Being Removed, Unit 8 Post 2

When thinking about a painting of a photographed image it is important to recognize that you’re very removed from the reality of that moment presented. The photographer is already removed from reality due to being behind the camera and the painter is then removed again by painting a photograph and not the image in reality. I know that sometimes the notion of a painted image is one that sounds redundant and weird, but I think that there is something to be said about being so removed. When you are removed from reality there are things that become more clear to you then when you are in the moment due to being emotionally biased. However, it is important to note that there are things such as emotions that you cannot fully grasp when you are so removed. The blur that Kurt added in the film to his paintings represents how reality only exists in that very moment and then it becomes part of the past; it becomes blurry. What remains consistent are the parts we choose to pay attention to, consciously or unconsciously. It’s much like how sometimes we only remember the good parts or the bad parts of a memory. You lose depth and possibly duality when you have a blur much like the one that was present in Kurt’s paintings. However, I only believe that consistency can be seen if you were there in the moment of reality. I believe that we can only grasp the truth when we have counterfactuals or varying perspectives to study from. Ulrike Meinhof’s life and experience will never be as clear as they were in the moments of their reality, and it’s important that we realize that there is more to the reality than what we are presented with. Even with watching a documentary or reading her work, there is much about the story that we cannot grasp unless we open ourselves to different perspectives and more information about her.