The Weight of Looking

We stand in rows, necks craned toward something we cannot quite touch. There is a hunger in the way we gather, a collective need to be near the light, even when the light is artificial, even when it is hollow. We believe that by witnessing, we become part of the event. We think that if we look long enough, the spectacle will grant us a piece of itself. But the spectacle is indifferent. It does not know we are there. It does not care that we have traveled across borders to stand in the dark, waiting for a sign. We are merely silhouettes against a glow that consumes everything. We watch, and in the watching, we forget to ask what is happening behind us, in the shadows where no one is looking. Is it the light we crave, or is it simply the comfort of standing close to a stranger who is also waiting?

Ronnie Glover has captured this distance in his work titled Watching the Watchers. He turns the gaze back upon us, showing the quiet gravity of the crowd. Does it change how you look at the next thing you see?