John Berger on ambiguity
John Berger172 quotes“These contradictions both hide and increase the natural ambiguity of the photographic image.”
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More from John Berger
Everything became exchangeable because everything became a commodity.
John BergerJohn Berger Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display. The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress.
John BergerJohn Berger For the Cro-Magnons, space is a metaphysical arena of continually intermittent appearances and disappearances.
John BergerJohn Berger Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.
John BergerJohn Berger For the artist, drawing is discovery. And that is not just a slick phrase; it is quite literally true.
John BergerJohn Berger When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls.
John BergerJohn Berger Every authentic poem contributes to the labor of poetry… to bring together what life has separated or violence has torn apart…
John BergerJohn Berger A drawing is an autobiographical record of one’s discovery of an event – either seen, remembered or imagined. A ‘finished’ work is an attempt to construct an event in itself.
John BergerJohn Berger Deep in the nature of theatre is a sense of ritual. The cinema, by contrast, transports its audience individually, singly, out of the theatre towards the unknown.
John BergerJohn Berger There’s the artist’s intimacy and truthfulness to himself, but an equal intimacy to the Other [the one drawn].
John BergerJohn Berger The human imagination… has great difficulty in living strictly within the confines of a materialist practice or philosophy.
John BergerJohn Berger To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself.
John BergerJohn Berger What is significant, and is so difficult for the urban stranger to understand, is that the two statements are connected by an and not by a but.
John BergerJohn Berger A cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis.
John BergerJohn Berger The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set.
John BergerJohn Berger Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.
John BergerJohn Berger
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More on ambiguity
There’s no gray area in law enforcement. Evil exists in the world and it must be dealt with. And those on the side of good can feel righteous in their approach to eliminating evil. There’s no ambiguity there.
Benjamin BrattBenjamin Bratt The eternal ambiguity of human motives and memory.
Ben BrantleyBen Brantley Beauty is self-defined, perceived and understood without ambiguity. It’s the stuff that lies under the skins of our individual existences.
Terence McKennaTerence McKenna There will be always unresolved ambiguity here.
Alan KayAlan Kay
