Re: We are not the alternative

Ron Silvers ( rsilvers@oise.utoronto.ca)
Sun, 12 January 1997 1:39 PM

Flesh Ba'lint makes an important point: "I don't believe in any
existing word for a new meaning, if we want to get a better expression
we need to create a new one".

The word classical carries a lot of baggage (for example, its reference to
a style), that doesn't fit with a primary focus on processes as discussed
on this list. The problem with the term complementary is that it places
its emphasis elsewhere: complementary to what?

Creating new words most often begin with roots of other words: terms from
the past or in other languages. For example, Richard Sullivan came up
with the name Ziatype from the ancient Southwest Anasazi symbol for the
sun. Nicely done, I think.

A possible replacement to alternative is the word "uvatiarru". This is
used by the Inuit of Baffin Island to refer to both long ago and the
future [Inuit are a first people in Canada's artic region]. Uvatiarru
offers a meaning of cyclical metamorphosis of past to future, a movement
from that which has been to that which is to come.

Maybe a derivation of this word will work, or maybe another term as a
starting point. The important thing is to look for a name that gets to
the core of what animates the work of those on the list. It should be a
term that is expansive so as to include both past and future; it should be
able to include the many relevances and values behind the use and search
for photographic processes.

Classical just doesn't have it. We need to be more playful!

Ron

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