Kevin Haggerty                                     Back to Showcase

December 2002

            Reality depends upon the perspective of the mind.  What if your perspective is false?  What if all perspectives, are false?  How do you know that what you think you know is right?  What makes you think that what you are looking at doesn’t cover up the truth?  It’s just like, “If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around, does anyone hear it?” only you’re right next to the truth…or are you?

            Andre Kertesz has a very good demonstration of this with his photo Broken Glass.  It is a reflection of a cityscape, with a hole left in it by some object unknown.  Through the hole we see a dark void of nothingness.  Is the void contained with in the image, or are we contained within the void?  Ecclesiastes once said that, “The simulacrum is never what hides the truth—it is the truth that hides the fact that there is none.  The simulacrum is true.” 

            The truth of the photo has been exposed because of the hole, and now we all know there is nothing more.  Reality is an idea.  A belief based on beliefs.  Your mind tries to hold on to the basic rationality made through the gaining of knowledge like:  the sky is blue, the grass is green, and that you can not punch a hole out of a landscape to find a void behind it. 

            Looking into the background of the photo you may believe that the faraway buildings appear fake or drawn in, like clouds in the sky miles and miles away.  Perhaps this is because of the reality mentioned prior.  They appear fake because they are fake.  If you were far enough from the nearest thing to you now, it would probably begin to look this way as well.

            Furthermore, the hole can be thought of as a revelation.  The thoughts or ideas of a person have brought about a theory saying that this is not real.  It is a truth breakthrough.  What wasn’t [void] now is, and what is [city] now isn’t.  In other words a pre-existing matter has been discovered canceling out earlier beliefs.  Like the discovery of the Americas, and the realization that the earth revolves around the sun. 

            To conclude, I believe this photo by Andre Kertesz is a philosophical masterpiece, because of the ideas it brings forth.  This philosophy being about the truth of reality.  It is up to you to choose your own perspective, however, don’t forget to look at the facts before choosing which side of the fence you feel like standing on the debate.