Mobile Photography – Instagram TAKEOVER with @cawestruck – Carol Wiebe – Days 10 and 13 – the story so far…

We are so excited with our latest Instagram TAKEOVER this time with @cawestruck – Carol Wiebe. She is a highly respected and talented artist and has been granted full access to our Instagram account and she has done such a magnificent job. We are very proud of her! Please take a look at her Instagram feed to see what an incredible artist she is.

On Day 10 @cawestruck highlighted the work of talented mobile photographer and artist @tikoi –  and she writes, “it grows out of my head” by @tikoi. This blended image, unlike many that feature a portrait, emphasises the tree rather than the face. We really have no idea what the face looks like. I find this somewhat refreshing, and @Tikoi, who concentrates on self portraits with double exposure, employs this technique quite a bit. It is as if he is saying his face is not the most important thing in the image; the tree is every bit as important. Looking through the rest of his gallery, I get glimpses of him now and then, but he is very playful and inventive with how he combines the face and figure with the objects and natural surroundings he also shoots. There is much variety: some of the images make you laugh, as when parts of himself are missing, and others are hauntingly beautiful, but all share a common attention to detail and artistry that makes his gallery a pleasure to explore”.

Later on Day 10 @cawestruck highlighted the work of multi talented mobile photographer @kate.zar.roberts – Kate Zari Roberts and she writes “It is my pleasure to highlight “Reflections on a Dream” by @kate.z.roberts. This image has a poetic quality that I find very appealing: the dark patterns flowing out from the dress, the female figure’s intense gaze as she observes this energy move outwards from her, or maybe towards her. Her gaze denotes awareness, making me wonder if she is still in the midst of a lucid dream, where her dress has come alive and is her vehicle for exploration as she moves with and within it. Kate, herself, moves effortlessly from landscapes to people to objects to surreal images. Her subject matter is wide ranging, but her eye is always sharp to notice and capture an image that speaks, expressing a story she wants to tell, an object she wants to emphasise a visual poem she wishes to “recite.”

On Day 11 @cawestruck highlighted the work of talented mobile photographer and artist @fleurschim – Fleur Schim and she writes “It is my pleasure to highlight “Lintel View” by @fleurschim, taken at The Israel Museum, in Jerusalem. I love how the details of the garden have been beautifully matched to the color and texture of the carved lintel, which fleurschim has used so effectively to frame it. I imagine her about to step from the lintel into the garden, crossing what looks ancient to re-enter the landscape of modern day life. Those lines, forming a cross, further emphasise that divide she is navigating. It makes me curious about what kinds of crossroads her mind may be negotiating at the same time. Be sure to visit @fleurschim’s gallery to see other places she has captured”.

Later on Day 11@cawestruck highlighted the work of talented mobile photographer and artist @phyllisshenny – Phyllis Sherowitz Shenny and she writes “Abandonment always evokes sadness, and the thought of what might have once been a vibrant community church is no exception. Stained glass windows are boarded up, and the details of the building are skewed, adding to the look of neglect, especially when one notes the steeple and the cross at precarious angles. One could be tempted to make a religious statement, but the pulpit is likely damaged or missing in this deserted church as well, so there is no borrowing it. Phyllis has stated what is essential with an effective image that is equivalent to a 1,000 word sermon (or ten thousand if you go by an old Chinese proverb). Any further prayers now need to be said for the church rather than in it”.

A little later on Day 11 @cawestruck highlighted the work of talented mobile photographer and artist @iphotami – Karen Axelrad and she writes “Karen Axelrad has over 1200 posts in her stunning Instagram gallery, where she has proven her digital prowess over and over. In this image, the face and bodies are sliced and diced into pieces that one cannot help comparing to how one feels having to deal with modern life. There is so much information, so many pulls here and there, that one sometimes has the sensation of being virtually dissected and fragmented. Refraction bends and changes the direction of those fragments, perhaps by virtue of the latest newscast or Instagram post!  I also appreciate that, at first glance, this image could be viewed as an abstract, making it a piece of art that satisfies on many levels”.

Still on Day 11 @cawestruck was drawn to the work of @jules4921 – Rita Colantonio and she writes “I was ready to call it a day, when this image came through on the IG feed. I immediately commented that it was a divine image. There is so much beauty in it: the winged being, the woman lying on the bed in all those sensuous folds, are both physically attractive. But beauty is also expressed in the idea that dreams may be gifts, bequeathed to us, breathed into us, perhaps from a divine source. The clouds bring to mind Wordworth’s “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting. Not in entire forgetfulness, and not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory do we come.” To play fast and loose with Wordsworth, the dreams birthed in us each night are also subject to forgetfulness, but many believe they are a gateway to higher knowledge and self insight. Such dreams could be described as trailing clouds of glory. The indecipherable writing may point to such knowledge as well. I find this image utterly enchanting. Rita, whose work I have described as elegant and suggestive, has outdone herself here. Thank you,  Rita! If I have been overly rapturous in my interpretation, I take full responsibility but offer no apologies”.

Moving on to Day 12 @cawestruck discovered @prairejill‘s – Jill’s work and she writes “The picture plane has been intersected several times, diagonally, by the escalators, creating three separate vignettes, each fascinating in their own way. I could make up scenarios, as I am wont to do, for each of these sections, but I am happy just to study the small figures, stylised by their size reduction, but quite identifiably different. Upper section: Blonde woman coming into close proximity to man in trench coat. Middle section: fancy woman dressed all in white, with fluffy collar, possibly fur (the others are not as clear). Bottom section: Person in black and white jacket, with a “bun,” sitting in background, and woman in turquoise jacket pushing baby carriage. I invite you to corroborate my identifications or correct and create your own. I am enamoured with the shiny sides of the escalators, the changing colours of floors and walls, the blurred movement of the moving stairs.  This image provided me with a lot of fun—I felt as if I was playing with a doll house (or mall) and could reach in to move the miniature characters into different positions on the various levels and make them interact in a variety of ways”.

Later on Day 12 @cawestruck highlighted the work of @klimmtt – Cecilia Sao Thiago, a very talented mobile photographer and artist and she writes “There are those who have called shopping malls the present day churches of North America. Whether or not you agree, it is true that shopping is a ritual that many practice often, and klimmtt has provided us with the bright lights, the open aisles, the bags and the goods that practitioners partake in. Those bright red coats of the two featured shoppers suggest they may attend the same sales together, and their brisk stride means they could be on there way to one. Other shoppers are not as clearly delineated, and may stand for the faceless many who shop along side us, but we are too focused on finding bargains or specific items to really see them. Plus, the bright glitter of goods demands we pay exclusive homage to all it has to offer.  On her website, klimmtt describes how she likes to create illusions with her pictures, that she can then cast into the realms of our imagination. I certainly feel as if she has given my imagination a workout with this image, and I invite you to find further ways for your mind to play in her gallery”.

And then later on Day 12 @cawestruck discovered this stunning image by @elizabadoiu – Eliza Badoiu and she writes “This image embodies mystery and the kind of obfuscation I find fascinating rather than maddening. The woman is veiled. We think we can decipher her face, but are not quite sure. The garment she is wearing, if it can be called a garment, is like a shawl of fringes gone wrong, that appear to have overtaken her, to be moving beyond her, perhaps taking her with them. There is something sinister and shroud-like about that shawl. Our shrouded female might be raising a hand, beckoning for help, but we are unsure about that also. And what of those scrawled letters, Y and X? Is it a coincidence that Y and X are chromosomes that determine our gender? Females are typically XX and males are XY. Yet the letters, which we usually read from left to right, are YX. Could this person be hiding some strange anomaly, a new gender previously unknown, under that voluminous shawl? Perhaps the shawl is just a shawl and there is no “why” to the Y and no wrongdoing despite the X, but I have thoroughly enjoyed trying to unravel the mystery of this evocative image”.

Moving on to Day 13 @cawestruck highlighted an image that we had included in this weeks Flickr Group Showcase too, by @sirreal – Chad Rankin and she writes “It is my pleasure to highlight “The Baptism of Creation” by @sirreal ~ Chad. He is a Craft Beer enthusiast as well as a mobile artist, so I imagine @sirreal ~ Chad tipping one back as he contemplates creation. It is interesting what @sirreal ~ Chad has chosen as components for his image: a polyhedron, a disembodied arm and four small busts (reflected onto or duplicated within the polyhedron). All rest on a dry, cracked surface that may be underwater (in which case, why would it be dry?), or the water may be a backdrop to these objects. I see the water as symbolic for baptism, which implies being purified for admission into some kind of belief system. The polyhedron is a solid in three dimensions, and wikiquote tells us that three-dimensional space is a geometric three-parameter model of the physical universe (without considering time) in which all known matter exists. Three could also stand for the Trinity, if Christianity is the belief system referred to here.  The four busts may be alluding to the fact that four stands for a firm foundation. Think of how many parts of creation come in fours: four seasons, four elements, four phases of the moon, etc. Pythagoras and his followers believed four was a perfect number, and that it represented God. God and creation go together like s horse and carriage in many belief systems. Cracked sand denotes a wasteland, perhaps where creation originated after being visited by the polyhedron and the disembodied arm, and before the baptismal waters washed over it. Take all of the above, with a big grain of the cracked sand, or tip back enough Craft Beer to just throw in some intriguing elements and think up a cool title. Both work for me!”

Later on Day 13 @cawestruck highlighted the work of talented mobile artist @jormain and she writes “My first reaction when I see this image is “purity.” The image is clean, basic, stripped down to what is essential. I observe a young woman, maybe just a girl, rapt before a shining window, her shadow falling behind her like a reiteration of her rapture. The purity of her experience streams out of the image as it does through that window. I sense a stillness in her, with that upturned face held by euphoria, elation, perhaps even exaltation. Longing is rising with my goosebumps. I want to see what she sees, feel what she is feeling. I want to know that kind of exaltation”.

And then… @cawestruck discovered another stunning image that we had also included in this weeks flickr group showcase, this time by @louisewhiting and she writes “It is my pleasure to highlight this image by @louisewhiting. Superimposing a face on top of itself is not as easy as it sounds. I am sure many would attest to the fact that it can be tricky to make such a face, or collection of faces, look right, to flow seamlessly, rather than merely appear ridiculous. Louise has achieved a multi-faced look to perfection with her image, and has celebrated the fact by adding nothing else. The fact that the eyes are looking in different directions, one towards us and one away, only adds to the strange attraction this portrait holds. It is impossible, but arresting, and our own eyes cannot look away”.

Thank you so much dear Carol, it is our privilege to see #theappwhisperer through your eyes, it’s so good.

Like all of these artists, please continue to tag your images on Instagram with #theappwhisperer in the hope to being selected and featured!