This photo is titled “Falling Awake” and it was taken in 2019. This photo drew me to it first because of the title “Falling Awake”. Usually, the phrase is “falling asleep” but “falling awake” gives a more mysterious yet bold definition to the coined phrase. Upon looking at the photo, it embodies a sort of double meaning between the words “awake” and “asleep” as not just being in the physical state. The ParkeHarrison couple’s main theme for their photos relies on the relationship between nature and technology with humans being the medium through which they express various conflicts within the modern experience. In this particular photo, there is a person lying on the concrete ground of what seems like an abandoned lot of some sorts with black feathers floating around them, some settling on the subject’s body. The backdrop is a modern city with lights turned on at the slight hint of dusk and piles of abandoned concrete and dirt in the empty lot. With the feathers and the subject who seems to be in some sort of business wear in focus, we can assume that this is a person that lived in the high tech society, or the city that serves as the background of this photo. My first thoughts are that this person is sort of like the fabled Lucifer who dropped from the good graces of God. The black feathers also hint that the subject’s wings were black or were tainted black and have been ripped out of their body. The subject was thus, rejected by the high tech society and abandoned. In a way, they are now aware of the failings of the city that they once helped prospered. “Falling awake” then gives the meaning that despite the efforts of the human to advance, they somehow always fall backwards.
Very thorough!