Photographic investigations, just like their subjects -the people- are never lost. They are always where they are. But very often they found themselves outside of a photographic investigator’s present dimension - but a photographic investigator is an apt dimension crosser. So inevitably they will meet. Just like it happened with this investigation. It was November of 2019 in the planet of Venice, after the great “acqua alta”…
I ask myself because this is also what we think of our world, don’t we? Architectural models and art can invoke meditations like this in a photographic investigator, in the most unsuspected moments or places. This one happened in Venice, during the 2016 Architecture Biennale.
When a photographic investigator has a chance to integrate to the Clear Light of Objective Reality she never misses it. The urge to be free is great to a photographic investigator who has spent her life investigating the illusions /lives of her subjects, as well as her own. And although she has read many times the Tibetan Book of the Dead hoping that she will remember what to do when the time comes, she also likes the American Book of the Dead, by E.J. Gold and his guidance in the bardos. She must remember, she must remember…: “Now I am experiencing the Clear Light of objective reality. Nothing is happening, nothing ever has happened or ever will happen. My present sense of self, the voyager, is in reality the void itself, having no qualities or characteristics. I remember myself as the voyager, whose deepest nature is the Clear Light itself; I am one; there is no other. I am the voidness of the void, the eternal unborn, the uncreated, neither real nor unreal. All that I have been conscious of is my own play of consciousness, a dance of light, the swirling patterns of light in infinite extension, endless endlessness, the Absolute beyond change, existence, reality. I, the voyager, am inseparable from the Clear Light; I cannot be born, die, exist or change. I know now that this is my true nature.” (― E.J. Gold, The American Book of the Dead)
My assignment was an interdimensional one, after a long time… I had to decline in taking this kind of assignments because of the energy drain that is caused to the photographic investigator by travelling to different dimensions and through time. But this one was very interesting -and I was feeling very strong and full of energy, after all. The portal was in the greek pavilion of the Venice Biennale -like so many are- and it was active only the last day of the Biennale. My task was to photographically investigate and follow a greek shadow that remained greek despite the nationality of the person who was casting it. It was taking their form, but not their nationality. Which, I guess was a tangible proof that nationality is not a real thing…
There is an infinite power, a universal consciousness that manifests herself as planets, worlds, people and cities and Venice comes right out of her radiant heart.
I was listening to an Alan Watts lecture ( a very poetic one). He was describing his love of the water. For him, love of water equals love of life. And this is exactly how I feel. Many times I imagined myself living by the sea, in a tropical place and just be and work all day in the water. Live -and sleep even- in the water, if possible. Only I would not like it to be very cold (and that is why my fantasy is taking place in a tropical paradise). While I was working on this photographic investigation, having just returned from a wetter than usual Venice -after November’s exceptionally high tide- I had still very vivid the image of glass windows wet from the inside, as the water that was trapped-in tried to get out, trapping itself again in the windows. And in my mind I knew that years of concentrated resentment by the Venetians about the Disneyland quality of their city, were probably the reason the waters rise so high, to purify and clean. Seeing little boats filled with destroyed refrigerators and washing machines going up and down the canals was poetry as well, a poetry with the same surreal quality of Alan Watts’ lecture. But then, a photographic investigator is trained to see these things, and even report them, even though she knows that her Venetian friends will probably resent her views and deny to take responsibility for what was manifesting around them. As up, so down, as inside, so outside.
Krishnamurti said: “Freedom is space and space is order”. In my photographic investigations I have realised that space is owned and cannot possibly be rented. But my assignment was to photographically investigate some art installations in the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, to find out first hand if there was any truth to that statement. As I was following my oblivious subject, what I thought that it was a mind-block proved to be totally liberating. In the complete silence of the installation I realised something else that Krishnamurti has said in The Book of Life: “Having already done everything possible to find the answer, the mind becomes spontaneously quiet. There is an awareness without choice, without any demand, an awareness in which there is no anxiety; and in that state of mind there is perception. It is this perception alone that will resolve all our problems”.
According to Douglas Adams the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. According to Angie Stergio, the Photographic Investigator the answer is 214.
A photographic investigator is always walking in space, although she knows that space is an illusion. But illusions have the ability to take beautiful forms and sometimes even magnificent forms like the illusion that is named Venice. Like all illusions, Venice is very personal. And I personally have to wonder how a photographic investigator who seeks loneliness and seclusion, creates illusions of places walked and lived by people and then photographically investigates mostly that people, rarely keeping her distance -unlike the present photographic investigation… Maybe the illusion called Venice is a purely 4th dimensional reality that reflects the preferences of a higher self . Like the Basilica di San Marco reflects itself in the acqua alta waters…
It was another Venice assignment and my subject was an ethereal pianist that lived there. I was supposed to photographically investigate a magic light that was pouring out of her in these -not so rare- moments when the Muse possessed her. I investigated her luminous presence in Villa Heriot, in Giudecca and her light was the light of pure love. There is a great Law in the Universe, that like attracts like, and her case was the living proof. Her life was filled with harmony, poise, love, abundance and perfect self expression. And I must say that she has been one of my most beloved subjects.
Space 1999 has always been my favourite science fiction TV show. I was 7 years old when it was aired but I remember vividly all the episodes that I watched. Not long ago, I managed to find both series of this amazing TV show and I frequently watch a random episode for inspiration, as every self respecting photographic investigator would do. The one called “Collision course” is about a planet that appearances (and science logic) say that it will crush upon Moon base Alpha (that is stranded in space along with Earth’s moon) unless destroyed with nuclear bombs. But Commander Koening is reached by a being of this planet (in a form of a vision) that explains to him his part in the plot of events: that he is to let the planet touch the Moon base without fear so that it’s inhabitants can reach a higher, purely spiritual level of existence. Koening is struck and convinced by the power and sincerity of this being but finds resistance by the people of the Moon base Alpha who think that he is delusional, possibly from radiation sickness. In the end the cosmic bodies touch and the other planer disappears. The episode finish with Commander Koening saying: “Who could know that a planet in collision course would not collide but simply… touch?”
A photographic investigator sooner or later realises that she creates her world by her inner conversations and that it is only what it is done now that it counts. Now is the accepted time. Even though it’s effects may not be visible until tomorrow. The events and relationships of her life are her word become visible. She changes the dream willingly, changing herself. So she changes the world.
By the time I found myself again in Venice I was emerged in Florence Scovel Shinn books which fell into my attention by pure intuition, as it always happens with important things. By the time I was photographically investigating Alessandra, a beautiful woman with the most radiant smile, I was already applying fearlessly Florence’s affirmations and advices and witnessed them having incredible results. “Man must prepare for the thing he has asked for, when there isn't the slightest sign of it in sight.” Indeed. In one way or another we all have witnessed our destiny taking shape by our own doing, but forgot all about it... Let’s not anymore. She says: “Make an affirmation immediately upon waking. For example: "Thy will be done this day! Today is a day of completion, I give thanks for this perfect day, miracle shall follow miracle and wonders shall never cease." Make this a habit, and one will see wonders and miracles come into his life.” Today I chose to see around me a wonderful world full of beautiful people… And guess what… It really is!
Electra was one of my subjects. She moved to another country in seek of a better life. I photographically investigated her again in Athens, 2 years after her departure and she was more miserable than before, even though her economic conditions were very much improved. I remembered then a documentary I saw an idle summer night in my beach house, about the chilean community in Greece and the greek community in Chile. There was a woman -that at that moment lived in Greece- who was describing her family’s life journey and she was always saying: “Then the crisis came and we moved to another country”. But that happened 3 or 4 times… This came to my mind when I was confronted with my friend’s misery and I said to her: “Problems go with the people, not with the places”. It was revealed as an indisputable truth to me. I didn’t know that Socrates had said the same thing though… I read it this morning. So I quote: “Why do you wonder that globe-trotting does not help you, seeing that you always take yourself with you? The reason which set you wandering is ever at your heels.’ What pleasure is there in seeing new lands? Or in surveying cities and spots of interest? All your bustle is useless. Do you ask why such flight does not help you? It is because you flee along with yourself. You must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this, no place will satisfy you.”
Venice is full of spirits. A photographic investigator who is experienced in psychic photography knows where to look for them and more importantly, how to look… This will not be revealed in this blog post. The only thing I can disclose is that they like to wander in rainy evenings in Rialto, especially when “acqua alta” is expected…
A photographic investigator always seeks inner guidance, especially when they are experiencing dissatisfaction from an imposed situation (or what seems to be an outwardly imposed situation -which it never is…). Hexagram 55 came up: Feng=Abundance. “Feng is the zenith of abundance, where something is so full that it overflows. In the image of your overflowing inner reserves, you are not made empty even while you give; this is the way of a kingdom of abundance. The master said: “When the sun stands at midday, it begins to set: be not sad. The fullness and emptiness of life wax and wane in the course of time.”“That which attains the place in which it belongs is sure to become great. Therefore follows the idea of abundance.”
I was obsessed with that new TV series, A Discovery of Witches and suddenly, wherever I looked in Venice, I saw vampires, witches and demons… I also realised that there were bewitched places that could be seen only with the corner of the eye. Was it “Somebody else’s problem” (as Douglas Adams would say) or was it mine?
October is the Celtic month of Ivy and it brings the promise of the inner self and the spiral of life. I read that Ivy’s growth reflects the spiraling patterns of DNA, the gifts our ancestors gave us. For a photographic investigator family is very often a cause for frustration, but this time I decided to see things from the celtic perspective and contemplate on my positive inherited attributes, family traits that have served me well. Made me feel like entering a new, wondrous world…
Peace and Love were best friends. I was hired to photographically investigate an unexpected interaction between the two of them, in Venice (where else??). For some unknown reason Peace was trying to tear Love’s dress off but Love wasn’t gonna give up without a fight. So she stroke back with a force that lead to uncontrollable laughing on both sides (one side was their’s and the other was mine). And so it came to pass that Peace fought with Love for the first time in known history - and I was there to investigate the fight… Not bad at all…
