Unreal Reality

As a child, I loved nothing more than to imagine the world in miniature. I created novels within my doll house. I built entire worlds inside a walnut shell or matchbox. Visiting a model railroad display was my nirvana. In addition to miniature realities, I was also drawn to anything fake. For example, my dream was to have a life size replica of a horse, not a real horse, but one that I could ride in my imagination. Growing up near Hollywood and the world of movie making, I was continually intrigued by what was faux and what was real. It was a revelation to me that when I first visited the Grand Canyon I discovered it looked exactly like the one at Disneyland.

As an adult, I found another miniature world at Legoland—cities, towns, animals, and people built with incredible exactitude. But this time, it took a toy camera to make it more of a reality. I discovered that when color and scale are removed and sharpness of a lens, softened, it changes one’s perception into believing these places and animals really exist. What better way to see the world, than through tiny pieces of plastic combined into new realities.

The culture of Hollywood and Southern California is definitely one of altered realities, and that’s what I find so intriguing. In a sense, we are all behind the curtain, pulling the strings to make our lives more glamorous, more special, and more important than we really are. It’s all an illusion and a fantasy that has tempted thousands to move west, towards the light, the klieg light that it is.