| 12. The Legacy A Personal Note from the Artist |
transitioned person alive even to those who never knew them. The people in this drawing are reconnecting
with a loved one that is now gone, celebrating the connection of that person to their lives. They are
celebrating a legacy.
Each set of hands represents a different generation and different interest level. Each is creating its own
legacy. Life goes on with its everyday predictability and humor, as noted in the small hands inquisitively
reaching for the cup. The curiosity of youth, battered with repeat disasters as about to be enacted here by
spilling that curious cup of coffee, too often eventually surrenders to the safety of not interacting at all. Or
avoiding emotional situations, as suggested by the older patriarch’s hands to the left of the child.
And speaking of children, you will notice several photos are recreating drawings in the 12 Stages of LifeTM
series: "Retirement" in the lower left, "Penance" in the upper left, "Career", buried under the photos in the
upper right corner, and "Marriage", held by the young woman on the right. In each photo, the children shown
in the series drawings are absent, suggesting that the children were, after all, the inner child that lives in each
of us—that part of us that never grows up. The part of us that we too often bury deep under the compost pile
of becoming a grownup, or at least, a “mature” adult. For many of us, play is left behind and shut out in some
dark closet deep within us along with our little child.
There is an enormous diversity of subject matter in the pictures. They are vastly different, yet vastly one. They
represent the experiences of Life which we all share. A picture of a young man holding up his first fish was
taken by his father, who is seen in another picture with his own father. Our lives are interconnected. They
have to be. We may share these experiences with each other, but we each create our own legacy as we
experience the various Stages of Life.
| Actual Image Size: 16”x 20” |
| Copyright Bruce Carnahan All Rights Reserved |
12 Stages of LifeTM
| 12. THE LEGACY |
PREVIOUS STAGE
PREVIOUS STAGE
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| About the Artist |
| * The Circular Copyright Mark you see overlapping each Picture only appears online for protection against electronic internet theft. The prints you purchase do not have any such mark. |
After we transition, we leave behind a legacy in the hearts and
minds of those we loved and touched in one way or another as
we acted out the Stages of Life together. And the quality of
those memories we leave behind is created today, in the
moment.
That is precisely why I chose to depict this with photographs.
All through our lives, using cameras to memorialize an event is
commonplace. Amazingly, we do understand that time doesn’t
stop for our pleasure and we want to revisit memorable events
or people when we no longer have a physical connection to
that time or person. “Time marches on,” as suggested by the
inclusion of the pocket watch. And life is a meandering,
chaotic line, not a straight one, as the watch’s chain
symbolizes. Memories often fade and distort with time.
Photographs help us keep fine-tuned with how things actually
were. They are not the legacy itself. They are the one of the
storytellers of the legacy.
Sitting around a kitchen table with several generations, looking
at old photos of a person’s life, is a ritual that, in a very real
sense, keeps the connection to that person alive. Photos
evoke stories, stories evoke emotion, and emotion makes the
minds of those we loved and touched in one way or another as
we acted out the Stages of Life together. And the quality of
those memories we leave behind is created today, in the
moment.
That is precisely why I chose to depict this with photographs.
All through our lives, using cameras to memorialize an event is
commonplace. Amazingly, we do understand that time doesn’t
stop for our pleasure and we want to revisit memorable events
or people when we no longer have a physical connection to
that time or person. “Time marches on,” as suggested by the
inclusion of the pocket watch. And life is a meandering,
chaotic line, not a straight one, as the watch’s chain
symbolizes. Memories often fade and distort with time.
Photographs help us keep fine-tuned with how things actually
were. They are not the legacy itself. They are the one of the
storytellers of the legacy.
Sitting around a kitchen table with several generations, looking
at old photos of a person’s life, is a ritual that, in a very real
sense, keeps the connection to that person alive. Photos
evoke stories, stories evoke emotion, and emotion makes the