EARLIEST FATA MORGANA
I feel that I have “broken through” a metaphysical barrier in my longtime obsession of photographing phenomenon in refracted color and light and am now somehow communing with those I have learned to recognize after a decade of “seeing” them, now revealing themselves to me as this project develops. They seem to be in another dimension looking out, which one can appreciate through their portraits, their consorts, menageries and the fascinating interplay of color, light and shadow in the magnificent designs that thaumaturgically emanate from their fusion.
These are straight photographs of images that did not exist except for the auspicious situation that generated their momentary illusions.
They are simply photographs of pure color and light that thaumaturgically arrange themselves into fascinating patterns
and grand designs that showcase it in what I refer to as a FATA MORGANA.
iThe word thaumaturge was first anglicized and used in the magical sense in John Dee's book
Mathematicall Praeface to Euclid's Elements (1570). He mentions an "art mathematical"
called "thaumaturgy... which giveth certain order to make strange works,
of the sense to be perceived and of men greatly to be wondered at."
GO FULL SCREEN, ENLARGE IMAGES (COMMAND + ON A MAC) AND SCROLL SLOWLY. IMAGERY CHANGES WITH DISTANCE AND THROUGH SQUINTED EYES.