Seeing Berger Suddenly

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Color Theory #6

from "On Visibility," in The Sense of Sight:

Look: White transparent curtains across the window.
Light coming from the right.
Shadows of folds, hanging folds, darker than clouds.
Suddenly sunlight.
The window frames now cast shadows across the curtains.
The shadows are convoluted following the folds: the window frames are straight and rectangular.


In Maine this summer with my father I wasn't thinking of Berger when I took this photograph. But I'm reading these essays again lately, and unearthing inspiration from folded memories. This is where ideas come from. Even after the fact of picturing it, understanding returns slowly: then suddenly I'm paying attention to some subtle movement across the creases of my brain and simply responding.

I want you to read this essay too. I'm wondering how you'll picture it.

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