There's a man outside

Windows (and camera lenses) separate inside from outside, feminine from masculine, warmth from cold, family from rugged individualism ..........yet allow us, tempt us, to peer into that other world, which is also our own.

Inside is warm, contained, protected but dark -- the place of often blurry emotions -- symbolically feminine, womb-like.

Outside is the world of men -- lone individuals, standing, phallic, enduring an often harsh environment, searching for clarity and meaning.   The masculine spirit is restless, always on the way somewhere, leaving the comfort of whatever he has found to house his spirit for a time.  Striking out on the next path to see where it leads.  Following his inner logic in an outer direction.

But enduring the masculine world leads to a nostalgia for the warmth and comfort of home, our lost Eden. Men go back to the window looking for what they have lost.  Hansel looks back at his dysfunctional family's cottage dropping crumbs to find his way back to his mother.  But the crows eat the crumbs and Hansel is attracted by the false glow coming from the witch's gingerbread house -- the glow of an oven he will be very warm in.

 

But sometimes when we look back in the window we find only the hollowness and alienation we felt outside in the rain and fog. 

 (note -- I'm searching for a way to use this blog to organize my concepts and images, but which is not an explanation of the images --  what I've done so far does not feel right.)