Enigmata Gallery
Additional images from the series: Enigmata can be found through the following link:
About the Enigmata Gallery...
This gallery presents images from Witherill's most recent series titled: Enigmata. Initially begun in April 2017, the series: Enigmata combines photography with digital-based freehand drawing and sketching, with the aim to produce a form of abstract digital collage consisting of a series of visual puzzles that the viewer is encouraged to solve. The overall intention of the series, itself, may best be described through the artist statement, below:
Enigmata – Artist Statement
Enigmata (Enigma) Latin:
1. a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation.
At its most fundamental level, photography is a form of visual communication. The photographic medium (when used as a means to achieve personalized artistic self-expression) normally involves the photographer employing a chosen set of tools and materials in order to craft and communicate allegorical visualizations which have been internally formulated in response to external stimuli. The overall goal of such visualization will most often be to communicate the photographer’s unique and personalized visual sensibilities (an “aesthetic”) to the benefit of a wide-ranging and (hopefully) receptive audience of viewers.
Yet, given the strict definition of the word: Communication, to wit: a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior – in its more commonly adopted form – the perceived communication associated with photography too often seems to be more of a one-sided affair than it might (or perhaps could) otherwise be. After all, within its definition, communication implies an exchange of thoughts and ideas shared between two or more individuals, rather than presupposing (in this context) a demonstrative statement made by a photographer which is then presumed to be singularly absorbed and invariably confirmed by the viewer.
In an effort to question the nature of mutual exchange inherent (or not) in such communication – and as a means to explore possibilities for a more expansive and potentially meaningful collaboration between the artist and viewer – images from the series: Enigmata have been formulated with the intent to encourage the viewer to become an active participant in the ultimate realization and resolution of the images, themselves.
Much of what is being visually explored and presented within this series of images will be unrecognizable in terms of what might otherwise be interpreted as more commonly perceived objects, situations, juxtapositions, and visual relationships. Consequently, the overall scene remains one that has been left intentionally vague, purposefully nebulous, and in many respects, absent all but the most ambiguous sense of subjective recognition. Stray hints of reality are combined with fantasy based abstractions and visually suggestive metaphors, all with the intent to create a puzzle (an enigma) that, by its nature, will require the viewer to consciously assemble, rearrange, and interpret a series of disjointed visual clues in order to form a more subjectively construed and collectively rendered whole.
Calling upon an active imagination, past memories, and personally adopted visual sensibilities, the viewer is encouraged to complete each vision with their own unique interpretation in order to solve a series of puzzles. As such, the images, themselves, are intended to portray whatever the viewer ultimately determines they portray. By encouraging the viewer to determine the most suitable interpretation of the material at hand, the result becomes more decidedly a direct collaboration between the artist and the viewer – potentially resulting in a more authentic act of mutually shared communication.
Though clearly straying outside the bounds of a more conventional definition of photography, itself, this series might best be described as a form of abstracted digital collage in which sketching and drawing have been combined, with photography, in order to create an overall assemblage that, in its final form, contains no specifically intended visual depiction and/or perceived interpretation. As such, and from a technical perspective, the best way to characterize the series, itself, will be to paraphrase Minor White’s succinct description: “The camera [and hand] were faithfully used.”
Note- A 30-minute video interview conducted by LensWork Editor- Brooks Jensen, titled: The Creative Path of Huntington Witherill – in which the photographer speaks at length about his ongoing creative process, and the series: Enigmata, can be found here.
Purchasing Limited Edition Prints from This Gallery
If you would like to purchase Limited Edition Archival Pigment Ink Prints of any of the images contained within this Gallery, instructions are provided, below.
Click the desired thumbnail image and hover your mouse over the resulting image enlargement page. A text link: "Purchase Prints of this image" will appear in the lower left of the enlarged image window.
Click the "Purchase Prints of this image" text link and you will be taken to an "Add to Cart" page containing additional information and facilities to purchase prints of that image.
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