The Perceptual Ambiguities of January

Subtlety Over Binary

A commercial building and a hill behind—several photos in one. A recreation of a Southwest landscape with Fort Marcy’s indigenous turned military turned park on the background. Charles R. Wolfe photo

In January, as I jumped between the urban, proto-urban, and natural landscapes, layers, blends, and biomimicry continued as subjects of my curiosity about places.

Perhaps this was an evolved, Georgia O’Keeffe shape-based interpretation of visual environments. Or maybe it was a new level of immersion in multifaceted landscapes in New Mexico.

Clearly, for me, this was a month of perceptual ambiguities. One glance showed one interpretation, the next displayed something else.

I’ve decided that looking at local exposures differently is a positive distraction that celebrates everyday subtleties. This seems particularly relevant in polarized and binary political times—where new national leadership seems to speak in either/or terms of win-lose, right-wrong and best-worst.

Paired images need not be opposite extremes. They can be dynamic examples of similar subjects expressed—or interpreted—differently.

A “what do you see” conversation about such pairs is a gateway to much-needed pluralism in a sudden age of absolutes.

Layers of history. A Pueblo Revival courtyard at 109 East Palace suddenly reveals a world-changing interlude. Charles R. Wolfe photos

Etchings in the natural and built environments. From brachiopod fossils along the Santa Fe Canyon Reserve Trail to cracks to the rear of Guadeloupe Street. Charles R. Wolfe photos

Human incursions, one arguably functional and to scale, the other random. Charles R. Wolfe photos

Public remembrances of different histories. The many messages of the Santa Fe Plaza obelisk—including defacement and toppling—recently uncovered in accord with a court-ordered enclosure removal. Charles R. Wolfe photos