Melanie Ezra

Small Worlds

“Most people feel that the world looks like a photograph. I’ve always assumed that the photograph is nearly right, but that little bit by which it misses makes it miss by a mile. This is what I grope at.”

-David Hockney

Small Worlds considers how the photograph fails to see truthfully but, more importantly, how we fail in our memories of this so called truth. We remember aspects of an event as pieces which we build in our minds to create a vision which can be remembered but which is not always accurate. The memory forms like a jigsaw and is pieced together from fragments which do not always fit comfortably.

Small Worlds uses methods of collage to rework the photograph on which it is based. Each Small World is based on one of the artist’s own source photographs. By working with her own imagery the artist questions the veracity and accuracy of a memory of an original experience. Each collage is flawed and unreliable in relating the image upon which it is based; it narrates differing qualities and interpretations on what can be considered the truth. The viewer is enticed into seeing a fragmented assemblage of the pieces of the artist’s mind.

Collages from the Small Worlds series range in size from 2.5” x 2.5” up to 6”x4” (unframed).