I think I have diorama.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

What is it about these dioramas that's so engaging? We found them in the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and I could have taken pictures of them all day.

Nostalgia? The museum has that mid 60's Canadian institutional building vibe, an attempt to be "modern" in a reserved and dignified way that now seems quaint. A lot like the schools I attended. Was I just nostalgic for school days?

There's also something engaging about miniatures in and of themselves, and these ones are well done. The paintings behind the little figures were wonderful. In the photos the two dimensional paintings and the three dimensional figures merge more convincingly that in real life. Maybe that was it.

Maybe it's the sense of control, a photographers dream, reality frozen for me to shoot at will.

What do dioramas say about us? About our way of understanding and learning? Who gets to say what's in the diorama and what it looks like? Are we more likely to believe this presentation of reality to be true because a compelling plausible representation of the offered reality has been brought into the world? Is it different that the plausible reality has been constructed in three dimensions and in miniature rather than having been constructed of words and in imagination?

I have to say I found the little tableaux of aboriginal people kind of weird. How was the god-like power of the person building this little scene wielded? Naively? Sensitively? Well intentioned but awkwardly? Via guesses or intimate knowledge? Who were they? Aboriginal? Caucasian? Does it matter what colour their skin was? Where they on the payroll? Were they censored? If so by whom? Did they have a backbone? What trust do I unwittingly place in the hands of a "museum" simply because it's a museum? Is that trust warranted? Is every museum different?

Are Sunday morning services like these dioramas? Little stage plays we control with our god-like power, freezing our proffered picture of reality for one day a week so we can photograph it in memory and return to it later with nostalgic feelings? If they are—and maybe they aren't—what trust do I unwittingly place in the hands of "church" simply because it's a church. Should I trust the hands which curate the Sunday morning dioramas? Or is it unfair to call what happens on Sunday morning a diorama?

p.s. I'm particularly fond of the moose.

Posted via email from The Broken Wing