Dinner and a Movie

 

Bittersweet

Digital Photograph

Inspired by the movie A Man Called Otto (2022)

This photograph reflects the themes of grief, time and nostalgia, along with idea that in order to start to move on it has to be through actions to reach out to those around you and make the most of what you still have. The living rose next to the dead rose on the plate symbolizes a romance that has been torn apart by loss, and the grayscale color palate around the plate adds contrast against the vibrant colors on the other side of the table representing family and youth. The layout of the photo was set to portrait to help convey these themes since the elements outside of the plate set-up are much further away than if the image were laid out as a landscape. If you were sitting at this table and this was your plate, it would take a conscious act of reaching out to have what else is on the table. The watch adds to this because you would be reaching over the watch, symbolizing being stuck in the past and having to reach past that to move on. The image conveys how grief can be all consuming to the individual, making it hard to reach out and see the good things in life that you have left. Letting people in, reaching out for help, and moving on can seem almost impossible. The knives boxing in the plate along with a square fabric under the plate symbolizes the walls that can be put up and how hard it can be to get through those defenses to other people trying to help. The more childish elements like the drawing, cookies, and crayons to represent both family, nostalgia and childhood, with one cookie much closer to the plate, symbolizing someone reaching out through sharing. An offering of help and the chance to look past the grief and see good in the world around you.