unofficial blog for course ART007

Lehigh University
Art Architecture and Design
113 Research Drive
Building C
Bethlehem, PA 18015

Emma, Tableaux

Tabeleaux Photography

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison are surrealist photographers that set up shoots and capture surreal images of man.  Most of their work features one man in a dark suit, trying to complete a seemingly impossible task.   Robert ParkeHarrison is quoted saying, “My photographs tell stories of loss, human struggle, and personal exploration within landscapes scarred by technology and over-use…. [I] strive to metaphorically and poetically link laborious actions, idiosyncratic rituals and strangely crude machines into tales about our modern experience.”  This quote very accurately captures the feelings of his images.  For example, the piece above shows a man stitching together a crack in the earth with a needle and thread.  Despite the successful stitching you can see that the man has completely, the impossibility of this photo comes from the never ending crack that disappears as it continues into the distance.  The work of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison is particularly interesting because when you think of photography, it is hard to think in a surreal way, given that a camera captures things exactly as they are, but they have flipped that definition and created something entirely different. 

Leave a Reply