Oná:to

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on May 3, 2023 at 3:04pm

Thanks so much for responding, and offering more insight into your work.  I'll look forward to it on the site.

Comment by Charles Titterington on May 2, 2023 at 1:56pm

I would also like to add that this image was taken digitally.  I do have a history of working with film and I am very familiar with processing film and developing images by hand.  It is a passion that I would like to start revisiting.  But these days I am more interested in the negatives following up with printing digitally. It has come so far.

Comment by Charles Titterington on May 2, 2023 at 1:52pm

Thank you for your wonderful comment on my work. It honestly made my day. I wanted to reach out to say thank you and also to give you a little more information about the piece.  The name Ona:to this is a Mohawk: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka word roughly meaning black snake.  

The basic idea behind this image revolved around rarity, and I wanted to bring two things together. My model Connor has Alopecia which caused him to lose all of the hair on his body.  And Elvira the snake, which is an endangered species here in Florida she is a Eastern Indigo.  The name I wanted was something that was uncommon, so I found the name, which is from a language that has roughly 3000 people speaking fluently. 

My wife is a wildlife rehabilitator and she has Elvira for Educational and conservation.  I wanted to help shine a little unique light on both the snake and Connor.  I tend to have a different way of seeing things and this was just one of those ideas that once I started asking questions it started to get pulled together.  I had it on display at the Florida Museum of Photographic Art in Tampa a few years ago as a Conceptual piece. 

Comment by Resident Curator on May 2, 2023 at 1:37pm

Curator’s Comments:

There is a primeval and arresting glory in the photograph Oná:to, Not quite a human portrait, the obscuring of the subject’s eyes evokes mystical and archetypal incarnations of blind seers and prophets. Searching for meaning in the title of the piece only offers conflicting origins. The black snake, of course, is wrapped in Judeo-Christian and pagan refences, and so the piece is ripe with religious and cultural associations.  But whatever the concept of the title, I’m formally attracted to the black and white contrast in the image.  While not indicated whether the picture was taken digitally, or if it is a silver gelatin print, there is a richness to the values and distinctive fields that recalls classic wet darkroom manipulation. The central placement of the figure(s) and sensual forms within a square also remind me of Robert Mapplethorpe’s sensory work.  I remember commenting on another one of your images when I first became aware of your work on the site a couple years ago.  I would love to see more photographs, and hope you will consider sharing what you’re working on now.