BEAUTY AS A WARNING
J. Genevieve
Artist/Intuitive Photographer
based in Salado, Texas
Vibrancy encased in ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
A tree stands still within a covering of ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Cracks broke the stillness of the morning as every bit of vegetation bent low under the weight of the winter weather that had descended on Central Texas over the past 48 hours. Of course, the camera would come out. There's a certain stunning quality of light and dimension that occurs when temperature and moisture drop out of nowhere. However, today in particular, my posture extended beyond visual intrigue and leaned into listening to the delicacy, the encasement and the frosted rhythm of the world around me. As I explored, I wondered about the complexity of how something so beautiful could, in the same moment, be devastating and, in some cases, deadly. Today I felt that admonition in each frame I shot to lean in, consider my role, response and responsibility to those intricacies.
This is our third round of extreme winter weather that has, since early 2021, become a regular occurrence. Prior to that, in my 10 years of living in Texas, we saw snow and ice rarely. Today hundreds of thousands of Texans are out of power - not as bad as the storm in 2021, but not one bit good either. Crashes have claimed lives. Organizations around the state are mobilized to assist unhoused neighbors to keep them safe from the elements. While I'm not a climate activist, it doesn't take much beyond simple observation to note the shift. My hope is that we will be moved by the warning of beauty to address, listen to those who have long stood for the delicate nature of the earth and our connection with her, follow their lead and change, even and especially in the intimate actions of one's every day life.
This is our third round of extreme winter weather that has, since early 2021, become a regular occurrence. Prior to that, in my 10 years of living in Texas, we saw snow and ice rarely. Today hundreds of thousands of Texans are out of power - not as bad as the storm in 2021, but not one bit good either. Crashes have claimed lives. Organizations around the state are mobilized to assist unhoused neighbors to keep them safe from the elements. While I'm not a climate activist, it doesn't take much beyond simple observation to note the shift. My hope is that we will be moved by the warning of beauty to address, listen to those who have long stood for the delicate nature of the earth and our connection with her, follow their lead and change, even and especially in the intimate actions of one's every day life.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Abstractions of ice cover limbs, Central Texas, February, 2023
Browning sago palm leaves, now frozen, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Vibrancy encased in ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Icy vegetation points skyward, Central Texas, February, 2023
Icicles cling to overlapping branches, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Frozen limbs frame multiple pathways forward, Central Texas, February, 2023.
A frigid rhythm, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Color enhanced by a glaze of cold, Central Texas, February, 2023
Beads of ice poised on a slender twig, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Negative space accented by frozen grasses, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Browning sago palm leaves, now frozen, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Vibrancy encased in ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Sago palm leaves, now frozen, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Hard lines form in the cold, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Vibrancy encased in ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Sago palm leaves, now frozen, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Beads of ice poised on a slender twig, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Abstractions of ice cover limbs, Central Texas, February, 2023
Vibrancy encased in ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Delicate nature as observed during a winter storm in Central Texas, February, 2023
Abstractions of ice cover limbs, Central Texas, February, 2023
Browning sago palm leaves, now frozen, Central Texas, February, 2023.
Vibrancy encased in ice, Central Texas, February, 2023.
ABSTRACT NARRATIVE PROMPTED BY BEAUTY AS A WARNING VISUALS
Old lovers refused to leave the dreamscape when asked.
Then told.
Like cracked shells
Stacked together - their edges finely/finally documented.
Must I retrieve the syrup from the sink when I wasn’t the one who left it there in the first place? After all I just mopped up all the muddy footprints while one cozied away after dancing through the icy branches in a thrifted red dress and mismatched shoes, half laughing, half pondering over scary blue eyed dolls which peered to the depths of that inky black swan lake.
While the other roamed over the frigid acres, I found myself unable to deny that the residue looked planetary in nature, musing the fact that had I not drawn a hard line earlier, I would have found myself, northbound, caught in the middle of a jackknife instead of here being here
Now
Where I’m seeing for the first time how the warning of beauty is just as aesthetically complex as it is delicate in nature, listening deeper to its frigid rhythm whose color was not lost, even with a glaze of cold.
How wild are these elements which can in one instance catch our eye another devastate and another prove to be deadly if over exposed? And what shall we do with them?
Will we marvel?
Adapt?
Survive?
Confront?
Or will we blur the lines and contribute to the wreckage, wander in circles while staring at the filth from our own feet all the while denying we ever existed in the place we’re clearly stuck, stacking our broken facades together as old
Arrogant
Supposed
Lovers
Who refuse to leave?
Or listen.
J.Genevieve, February 2023
Public Story
BEAUTY AS A WARNING
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