Play with History by Bethany Seib

First year Sara Nesbitt presented a narrative photograph titled “The Possibility of being taken out of context” during Monday night’s seminar this week. Neatly placed in a pile of leaves sat a well kept typewriter spilling out the redacted script of Walter Benjamin’s 1940 book On the concept of History. Benjamin… We meet again. Walter Benjamin is a 19^th century writer whose left a highly influential work, a romanticized “suicide” and a missing manuscript—which drew critical skepticism and contributed to the creation of several theories.

My first impression was that this piece was a still from a reenactment of one the theories of Benjamin’s missing manuscript. The placement of the typewriter shows no evidence of fleet and the paper shows no signs of authenticity, leading me to forget about Walter and turn my attention to the artist’s stage. The interest in the evolution and alteration of history is clearly expressed. I lose interest in the possibility of a narrative and focused on the saturated color and iridescent shine. The warm leaves melting into the murky depth is relaxing. This piece is beautifully printed. Her process is flawless. It’s clean. Almost too clean. When I think of history it’s messy, sometimes candid, and sometimes staged. However, the timid staging here leaves no room to play. Nesbitt, being a first year, has plenty of time to explore her content and hone her skills. I would like to see her come out of her shell and play! Put the books down and throw’em around!