Phantasmagoria

When I was a kid I never really read much. That’s not something that I like to admit, but it’s the truth. Even in high school, I would barely skim through the books for my English classes and still somehow manage to get As on all my papers. It was difficult for me to be still and concentrate on reading a book, but I was fascinated by people. I noticed what they said, how they said it, their facial expressions, and the way they all seemed to say one thing and mean another. Perhaps that’s why I was still able to ace my English papers: I was really good at listening. Through listening to class discussions alone I was able to form my own insights about books I had never even read. When I found myself at a real university, things changed. Suddenly I couldn’t coast through on borrowed information, at least not if I wanted to make better than a C average. In college, I went from hardly reading at all to reading the likes of Freud, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. What I uncovered in reading these texts was a deep love of ideas. When I encountered an idea that resonated, or even better formulated one of my own, I would feel a sudden rush of excitement and hurriedly record my thoughts in my notebook. What I learned is that ideas are the true rulers of the world, for better or for worse. And that the ability to shape the ideas and beliefs of those around you is the ability to shape the future of the world. Phantasmagoria is a series that explores ideas. Each image is a meditation on the human condition and the follies and triumphs of human nature. It approaches what it means to be human from both a philosophical and psychological standpoint. The topics explored in this series range from religion and gender roles to the nature of human perception and knowledge.