Tuesday

Children’s Hands at Play



The structures usefulness has long outlived its purpose and been abandoned by the military and turned over to the National Park Services. These concrete structures of fortifications imbedded into the coastal hillside against an enemy that never arrived, are now left to the elements and to the many mischievous hands at play in the garden of forgotten childhood.


Sounds of the ocean are muffled; a sea gull’s shrill can be heard off in the distance, piercing the sky as it fills the void. My footsteps upon the lose gravel disrupt the surrounding rhythms measuring the intervals of time.


Gazing in through the window frame, as it is absent of glass or the iron bars, I behold a chamber adorned by the hands of many, they who have left behind a trace of their presence by any means possible.


As the right leg climbs over the ledge of the window, I slowly begin my descent, intruding into a realm of unknown. Here where ubiquitous voices have sanctified impenetrable walls, now harboring the transgressions of our silence are the cryptic, enigmatic symbols. They, which converse in a mix of language, colour and texture, ever changing as transient voices add or subtract to the layers when their dreams collide.


Though surrounded by the ghosts lingering between the overlapping layers of indifferent pigmentations of colour, I find myself alone in this space, losing track as the hours pass with the swiftness of a sparrow.


I leave this place the same as I had found it, though richer for having stayed.




















































Notes:

All digital photographs featured in this photographic essay were taken on April 17, July 8 and July 12, 2007, at the Battery Mendell, located at the Marin Headland in Northern California and under the supervision of National Park Services.



16 comments:

Ian Foster said...

Thank you for sharing your visit to this abandoned fortress and showing us some of the wonderful 'found' abstracts there, they are truly amazing.

Monika Wolf said...

Very enjoyable again reading your wonderful essay and viewing your gorgeous photographs, Egmont! Thank you for sharing your adventures with us!

Kelly M. said...

So who is your publisher? This is an evocative entry, words and images sweeping the reader away, a true reverie . . .

InVisionArt said...

When the artist look at ANYTHING, it can be turned into exciting art. I love what you show us here, at the same time I wonder...why don't I??? I pass grafitti often, but never stop to really LOOK. Thanks for these Egmont. You remind us that there is beauty in everything, if you have "the artist within" - Gun

Chris McQueen said...

Great work Egmont. Enjoyed viewing your images. You have your own unique style. Brilliant

Anonymous said...

These are interesting; they seem to touch on some primal need for expression.

Leslie Avon Miller said...

Wonderful images.

.Trudi Sissons said...

A visual feast combined with your elegant prose make this post a work of art Egmont. I always leave your post hoping to demand more from myself. You inspire.

layers said...

love love LOVE all these wonderful found abstracts--- so many 'paintings' in one place...thank you for sharing.

ArtPropelled said...

There are so many exciting abstracts framed here. I love the black red and cream with white handprint.

InVisionArt said...

Thanks Egmont for commenting on my new baby. It actually IS like being a parent again. The whole world turns upside down for this old hermit LOL.

Seth said...

You have such an artful eye to pull these images out - each a work of art themselves. And your accompanying words set a vivid scene and really sound like music to my ears.

magpie said...

Before I read the entry I thought that perhaps these were images from the Berlin Wall. The marks that people leave are universal.

Love these

Judy Wise said...

These images captivated me. More and more I love the random marks left by fate and time. Thank you for all of it.

p said...

these to me are perfection. art. you got it. nothing else to do...

SKIZO said...

WOW