We See What we Know…

To what degree are we, truly, observant or aware of our environment? Is there a direct correlation between seeing and knowing? The way to approach these questions is by initially, making the distinction between the actual recording of information that happens through our optical system, and the cognitive processes that take place in our mind to interpret the information. Therefore, visual information that may be recorded by a camera may not mean anything until our mind is involved in the process. Like a latent image that exists in an undeveloped roll of film or an image projected on the back surface of a camera obscura that hasn’t been seen by anyone, information exists, but has not come into conscious awareness until we perceive it and engage with it.

Today, researchers of artificial intelligence understand the complexity that exists in what seem to be the most simple, involuntary tasks involved with our day to day activities. In fact, it takes us years of experiential knowledge, as we grow up, developing the cognitive and perceptual skills that allow us to interpret and understand the world around us.

Nevertheless, when we discuss art, things are not that simple. Art is about ideas and aesthetics and is always eluding definition. The things we know today from art, at one point may have been avant-garde and the things we don’t understand today, may be the ‘known’ of tomorrow… And from that point of view, depending on our specialised knowledge of what we see, we may be able to pick up signifiers and details that others may not realise. The information will still be there, yet we may not see it simply because we are not aware of it, whatever that may be. For example, a botanist looking at a photograph or a view of bushes and trees in nature may recognise the species as indigenous to the natural area, or a result of urban growth; a distinction that entirely changes our understanding of what we see. Many other examples could be mentioned that are particular to the study of Photography itself, as well as in Art; a journey that as photographers we ought to take, and why not, may even help shape…

to be cont…