"Structure and Narrative" Larissa Lowe Gonzalez

A work of photo journalism.

2 Color Photographs framed together

18" x 20" Inclusive of frame  

Structure and Narrative ~ 
Structure
From birth, animals of all species take great pains to steer and guide their young in the
requisite techniques thus far shown to promote survival. It is a primal, instinctual process
specific in appearance to each species but common in nature to all, including we homo
sapiens. It would also appear that all species have some form of inherent social hierarchy
in which participation is genetically programmed and any anomaly is simply and cruelly
treated, as a glitch in the system, to be shunned lest it interfere with the format. Take for
example, baby birds that commit fratricide by dumping the runt of the litter out of the nest to crash dead on the ground when the mother is out getting food, or human infants with extreme deformities who are still being abandoned or exploited for their appearance in our time. First are the structures we learn from our makers; names of things, people, what food and excrement are. We discover hunger, pain and danger, often later than our humans would like. We discover the excitement of rolling over and sitting up all alone. Everything, crammed in and categorized, in our great pithy brains as we grow and experience our environment as its presented to us structurally, always hierarchical, depending on the cultural narrative into which we were born.

Narrative
Narrative is an internalized presumption, a distorted lens through which we ourselves see and are seen Narratives are the archetypal storylines that our primary humans used to validate and maintain the many hierarchal structures which they believe an arduous and even ‘loving’ indoctrination of their beloved offspring to the harsh realities of normative society will provide them valuable equipment, tools, and insight as to how one should behave, and thrive, within the previously defined social narratives with which we are destined to interact. Not unlike training a cat or a parrot, we willingly drill and practice extensively, try our best to succeed at the ask because for our people, we are pre- programmed to do so. We are admonished when we fail to fit the normative models of success given, unwilling to slip blindly into a way of seeing prescribed for us with no clear explanation. Sufficient divergence – challenges to, failure at, and rebellion from - these narratives also earn us the names outlier and troublemaker at a macro-level. Dismissed, misunderstood, and oft misdiagnosed or so overly scrutinized we stigmatize ourselves internally on behalf of these false narratives, thus clouding our own ability to perceive what narratives might even be ours, or what dysfunctional, external stories we have instead absorbed, and too, what choices we have available to clear our vision and see the impact of our own lived experience through lenses of our own choice and making. We have a duty to ourselves and to society to exercise our respective birthright to feel seen and to perceive others as the magnificent individuals that we are in our myriad ways.