
I saw this wall many times. Whenever Jan and I took John to see his doctor, I would wait in the car as Jan took her father into the office. After the first visit, I realized that the wall on the side of the parking lot had a lot to say. On later visits, I made sure I had a camera with me and chatted with the wall. It had a lot to say; my camera and I were eager listeners. This is a short transcript of those sessions.
Is This Conversation?
Roland Barthes asserts that “photographs are messages without codes.” Actually, in this statement, he is referring to the connoted message that may be beyond the denoted message by the image itself. Conversations With a Wall series denote, depict one thing; what they connote comes to you with no code, your seeing will decode the message the way you read the photographs, I mean the transcript! And, it is not like talking to a wall, as the expression goes.
I closed my 2004 artist statement for an exhibit with this line of thinking “… this will work based On Seeing, mine, the camera’s, and yours.”
Binnaz Melin
I scrutinized the photos of the wall and read your comments carefully, Cemal. I also went back to your On Seeing article and photos.A lot of images came back while reexamining the photos and rereading your article. It certainly was a rewarding experience.