Utrecht, Netherlands

"If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much."

Dutch expression

I know, I know, we're nearly ready to leave the Netherlands and I have yet to produce even a single image of the beautiful town of Utrecht. Rest assured, blog creepers, I have done you one better.

In our first lecture at NOI♀SE ("Questioning the Visual" by Dr. Marta Zarzycka), we talked extensively on the importance of sound and movement in photography. Without going into extremely specific and nerdy details, the lecture looked at the ways in which an artist can choose to engage senses past the visual in order to break down the time-space distance between the viewer and the experience of the artwork. This suggests that, while a still image alone may cause an exchange of emotion, a sound accompaniment makes it more invasive. As Zarzycka explains, "You can close your eyes, but you cannot close your ears. When sound accompanies the photo, you must acitvely try to avoid the affect*." 

Now one must note that Zarzycka's lecture focused on the portrayal of "the other" in the face of trauma. What I'm about to show you is in no way traumatic, however, I based what follows entirely off of Zarzycka's line of thought. You see, while sitting in and feeling eternally grateful during my NOI♀SE lectures, I was trying to find the best way to explain my travels to my family upon my return to America. Words are never enough, and even photos did not seem worthy enough, either. Then Zarzycka's theory was thrown into my thoughts: engage more senses.

The following clip is a collection of my pictures from Utrecht. The background sounds are what I heard during a day of traveling around the city centre. First, the sounds of the famous Dom tower bells, then chattering and movements of the markets, and finally (as is true all over Holland) the occasional intermittent rainfall. It is my hope through this clip, you all can feel the slightest bit closer to my journey.

*I recognize these statements can be construed as ableist, however, as the concept it new to me, I am unsure how to frame the experience of senses in an inclusive matter. If you do find a way, please let me know!