Over the summer I had the chance to go to Tulum, Mexico - one of the Ancient Mayan Ruins sites. My concept is based on the stories I heard while touring and learning the history of the ruins. This was where Mayans lived and practiced their beliefs and I had the opportunity to see firsthand some of these beliefs after meeting local Mayans. It was very interesting to hear the stories and then see how today this ancient civilization is a tourist attraction. So my concept is based on how the old interacts with the new. The Mayan Ruins paired with the railing to push the tourist attraction aspect while incorporating the traffic light to further how this was a civilization and how there are very few ancient civilizations still standing - some may now be sites of cities/modern civilization. I took the distressed, black outline from a Library of Congress image and added a crack to further the distressing of the piece to show the wet plate method.
This Old is New Again photo composition created by Ashley Legassie has many interesting elements. Centered in the photograph is one of the ruins that remains of an Ancient Mayan city. It is in black and white tones primarily, with a yellow tint to the image, but is more visible in areas such as the sky and the grass. We, the viewer, seem to be standing in front of a fence that is made out of wood and stone; a very worn and old looking fence. Behind that fence lies a path or road that has its own rope fence, and hovering over that road are two stop lights with modern street signs on the post. There also seems to be quite a lot of damage to the photo, with cracks and blacked out, smudged areas along the edge. There is also a piece that appears to be missing from the right hand side. And there is one splotch in the middle left of the image as if something dripped onto the panel while it was being processed.
ReplyDeleteThe combination of the Ancient Mayan Ruins with very modern pieces like the stop lights and post implies an attempt to merge and blend both history and the present. The image was taken at what is currently a historical location that offers tours to tourists and visitors to see these ruins and learn some of the history behind the Mayan cities from both guides and locals. The photo itself, with the addition of the fence and the stop lights, definitely gives the feeling of being a tourist witnessing this ruin in present times versus giving the feeling of this being a photo possibly taken in the time of the Ancient Mayans. I think the rope fence, though small, also helps push the narrative of it being a tourist attraction quite strongly.
That being said, I wonder if the concept would have had a slightly stronger success of pushing “old interacting with the new” if you had removed the feeling of being a tourist. With the current perspective of tourist, it still, in my opinion, separates “old” and “new.” Possibly, more “modern” elements such as a car with the stoplights on that roadway being added may have incorporated the mayan ruins into today’s society in a more complete and inclusive way instead of still pushing it away kind of by implying it’s recognized as a historical piece, even with the new modern elements added.
Even with that critique, I think the composition was well done. The compositing looks very natural, and the perspective is realistic! The added wear and tear to the piece does a great job of mimicking damage that could happen to a wet-plate piece when being created and the damage that could happen over time. The cracks, missing piece, and smudges are placed in such a way that it doesn’t take away from the composition, if anything it adds to it. It does a great job of adding age to the piece and the idea that use of the wet-plate method was how this photo was processed. In short, I do feel this piece gives the intended feeling of combining old with the new well overall.