Hanna Hetherington

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A SPARK OF CONTINGENCY






Friend or foe, and in not a moment too soon.

Come dip a toe in the pool of temptation, for tenuous scruples fear not the wrath of
bureaucracy.

The grass may not always be greener.


The notion of a spark of contingency is a theme that is presented in Walter Benjamins a
short history of photography (1931, p. 240- 257) . A spark of contingency being an intrigued
interest or pervasive searching from the beholder of a photograph to uncover the truth or story that
exists between its subjects. Benjamin (p. 243) believed that this truth exists within the aura or
certain atmosphere that is created when the camera permanently cements a moment in time, so it
is put forth that longer shutter speeds are able to capture a more pure essence of a particular
subject. Longer shutter speeds make it impossible for the true nature and characteristics of the
subject not to pervade out into every inch of the printed photograph reveal(ing) in this material the
physiognomic aspects of visual worlds which dwell in the smallest things, meaningful yet covert
enough to nd a hiding place in waking dreams (p. 243).
The photograph I have taken from Ross Gibsons online project Accident Music is the
embodiment of these key ideas presented in Benjamins writing. The blurred car in the foreground
is an indication of the period of time in which the photograph was captured, allowing the true aura
of each individual depicted to seep into the senses of the viewer as they search for the spark of
contingency. The man, painstakingly clutching his face under the street sign, is unable to hide
from the camera his inner tumult as he wrestles with his emotions before robbing the elderly lady
with the handbag. Will he be a friend or foe? Will he give into the temptation of greed and disregard
his morals? It is the very essence that is captured of this man that ignites an unplagued desire in
our imaginations to know the true story.
It is this chronicling desire that also gives way to the idea of photography as a fore bearer of
the future(p. 243) . The camera speaks to the human consciousness in the way that it captures the
inconspicuous spot where in the immediacy of that long-forgotten moment the future subsists so
eloquently that we, looking back, may rediscover it. Looking back onto this photograph the
authorities would be able to decipher the clues and observe the troubled man as he grapples with
the matter of taking the law into his own hands.










BIBLIOGRAPHY


Benjamin, Walter. A Small History of Photography in One-Way Street and Other Writings,
London: Verso(1931) 1979.

Gibson, Ross http://blogs.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/justice/