Jacob Aiken
The Ballad of a Blind Cartographer
Fuji Instax Film
There is a dead zone in the space between linguistic communication and our brains’ ability to process abstract information. This void is occupied by an ‘otherness,’ something shrouded from sight and yet its’ mere presence within the realm of total nonexistence suggests fallacy in the infallible; the number five among a binary of ones and zeros. As I make photographs, I map this void as if it were a tangible space. The Ballad of a Blind Cartographer was born out of a search for this ‘otherness’ that looms over all of us.
The photographs themselves are fragments, moments of reflection. To open a dialogue for such an abstract way of thinking, I limit my ability to interfere. I make photographs with an instant film camera that produces palm sized images in minutes. The process is quick and allows the chemistry of the film to control the outcome of things such as color. Having removed my hand through much of the process, the final images reflect that of a shared human experience with the undefinable and uncontrollable. Each photograph being so immersed in my own life that the final image feels it can be the memory of anyone; a rational formation of the irrational existence of a mortal being.
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Part II
