The Lena Ghio Paradox/Le Paradoxe Lena Ghio: Water, Consciousness and the Prophecies of Nostradamus

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Water, Consciousness and the Prophecies of Nostradamus

Emerge Art © Lena Ghio, 2013

FRANÇAIS app de traduction à gauche

PART 1: WATER

July 23 2013 I intended to work on watercolors. I began the day setting up exercises to warm me up and spark my inspiration. I prepared an installation with several OMIs and a bowl of water. I have always been fascinated with the refraction of light and color in glass and water. I proceeded to sketch the composition when it occurred to me that I could photograph it and exercise from the photos. I got my camera, took several shots and proceeded to download the images so I could pick a few to work on. Suddenly an unexpected phenomena stunned me!

Inside the water images of people, places, animals, nature spirits and angels had emerged!

After a few weeks I developed a process of working with the photographs so the mysterious phenomena inside the water could be revealed. For the content to be visible I need to photograph the water without a flash. When I open the image with Photoshop the bowl can be quite dark. In the example below, you can see the five steps I took to create the final image, the one of the puppy on top. I had noticed a vaguely white form resembling a dog inside the bowl before taking the photo, but it was only after the first screening that I was shocked to see that what I had observed in a flash was correct: there was a dog shape emerging from the water.

The first few images showed me another startling feature that I call vignettes. They appear like tiny storyboards inside the water bowl. The first two photos I shot provide a perfect example. You have from left to right, the original image, the same image screened , a crop of the upper right hand corner of the bowl from the image that has been screened, the second image taken 10 seconds later screened, and a crop of the second image's upper right hand corner of the bowl. In the first one, a man appears to be sitting in a bar or a café. His head is split in two directions. This gives us the impression that he is conflicted, trying to make up his mind. In the second shot, taken 10 seconds later, he is putting on his jacket and leaving!

One would expect that whatever is refracted in the water would remain stable for two shots. But the evidence shows us that even the content of water is affected by the speed of the Earth's rotation and the effect of the natural light as it bends to this endless motion. Since then I have taken many photos and observed that they do not all manifest complex images. Many photos are what I expected to find in the first place, naturally occurring refraction of light and objects. Some photos are cloudy or jumbled. Then there are those that reveal stunning complex compositions like the image below that is entitled The Angel and the Man. I am sharing this mysterious phenomena that my art practice has revealed with you but for now I am still in the experimental and research mode. The art world has also remained unable to characterize my work to this date.