Triggered: Julia Tarantino

© Julia Tarantino

Image and text by Julia Tarantino.

I read in a book somewhere that the great artist Leonardo Da Vinci would stumble into markets, and upon finding caged birds would open the door and free them. Freud thought this to be a subconscious attempt to free himself. I wondered if I fixate on birds in the same attempt to feel as free as they are. Why else do we watch clouds if not to feel their ease, or brush our hands on top of running water if not to feel its fluidity? 

I traveled to the beach to find birds. I realized that this “freedom” was something I projected onto them, because no matter how hard I ran at them they stayed stuck to the shore as nature intended. The photo in my head then became uncomfortably still. I realized I was trying too hard to find freedom from myself that I failed to see it as an attempt at running away. Just as the seagulls are bound to the shore, we are relatively bound to ourselves. It deepened my question of what it means to be free. It’s a question that triggered the creation of this photograph, and my series “Shadow Self Portraits."

More of Julia’s work can be found on her website or instagram.