Artists Linda Alterwitz and Elizabeth Stone use photography to poetically portray physiological processes. Each artist uses photography to capture states that are fleeting, transitory, and ephemeral—in one case the simple act of breathing, and in the other, tracking the complicated progression of a neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s disease. Poetry is as an expressive mode characterized by ‘intensity’ and ‘emotional content.’ Using the term ‘poetry’ as a verb or an adverb to describe visual art is a way to say that what is happening is beautiful, hard to place, and deeply felt—exactly the response viewers have to Alterwitz and Stone’s work. We see, but don’t know what we’re looking at. We feel deeply and intensely, but aren’t always sure why we are feeling.
It’s striking that a poetic approach is the best vehicle to combine together the simple, yet mysterious processes of breathing and dying, both of which are described more broadly as a mechanical. By mechanical, the medical community doesn’t mean that there isn’t feeling or thought related to breathing or dying, rather they are automatic processes. They happen independently of our choices as human beings. What remains unsaid, perhaps because it is so obvious, is that both are intricately connected to life and living. When events happen outside of our control, the only factor we can control is how we respond. Here, Alterwitz and Stone, prescient and invested in their work, provide the viewer with their collective wonder and reflection. Though they work independently, both artists share an interest in wellness. They explore human awareness of the body, cycles, loss, and connection and suggest that what is deeply personal and fleeting may be universal and timeless.
