Soma-Sema.com » Abstract

The River Acheron

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:50:56 +0000

A great rusted chain hangs loosely across the gap of stiff metal bars that border the concrete of the Oxford Mills dam. A cheap hand-painted “No Trespassing” sign feebly holds to the chain by worn and weathered string. The sign, put there to keep children from falling into the dangerous churning spring and fall run-off, is an irrelevant artifact, as the river is at its mid-summer low and there has not been a heavy flow over the dam in a month (that and it couldn’t keep a five year old out). I step over and set-up my tripod on an overcast day that has threatened but never delivered rain since dawn. First, I put a circular polarizer on my Nikkor 1.8 50mm, then my cokin filter system, and finally the red filter. I really need the tripod now as I have just dropped my exposure by four stops. I take exposure readings from the shadows of the trees to the right, to the left, the river and the sky and average out the exposure, and then underexpose it by a stop and a half. When I close the shutter, I have on film not the tepid filth of the Kemptville Creek, but the blood-waters of the River Acheron.

No longer does its course take it winding through the suburbs of the small south-eastern Ontario town, hanging onto the capital city by the 416 highway like a growing fetus to an umbilical cord; rather, this river runs through the vast Lands of the Dead in Hades to the Acherusian Lake where the ferryman waits for his dues. This river segregates those poor souls in the Vestibule, doomed to wander for their selfish indecisions in life, the lowest form of the damned whom even Satan cast out of his realm, from the tortured shades embraced into Hell’s hostile bosom.

Into this river flow fire and the wailing cries of the eternally pained.

This is the River Acheron: the River of Woe.

For comprehensive information concerning Greek mythology especially dealing with the afterlife, including excerpts from primary sources, visit: http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Underworld.html

This photo is also part of a series of abstract photographic representations of Dante’s Inferno. For the full series, please visit http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html

Black and Emptied Hearts

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:32:13 +0000

“…As we shall come to stop awhile upon the sorrowful shore of Acheron.”

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. pg. 89, Lines 77-78, Canto III, Penguin Classics, Indiana University, 2003

This is part of my Dantesque Journey, a series of abstract photographic representations of various scenes from Dante’s Inferno. For the full series, and to see how each photos fits into the prose, click here:

http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:27:30 +0000

“Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni,”

my master said, “closer to us, so now

look ahead and see if you can make him out.”

Translation: The banners of the King of Hell advance.

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. pg. 379, Lines 1-3, Canto XXXIV, Penguin Classics, Indiana University, 2003

This is part of a series of abstract photographic representations of various pieces of Dante’s Inferno. For the full series, and to see how each photo fits into the prose, please visit this link:

http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html

All of the photos from the Dantesque Journey were taken with my Nikon FM2, a 135mm Nikon e-series lens, 400 ISO colour negative film and a red filter mounted on the lens using my Cokin P-Series filter system.

Ominous Silhouettes

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:22:49 +0000

And when I looked beyond this crowd I saw

A throng upon the shore of wide river,

Which made me ask, “Master, I would like to know:

Who are these people, and what law is this

That makes those souls so eager for the crossing—

As I can see, even in this dim light?”

And he: “All this will be made plain to you

As soon as we shall come to stop awhile

Upon the sorrowful shore of Acheron.”

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. pg. 91, Lines 70-78, Canto III, Penguin Classics, Indiana University, 2003

This photograph is part of a series of abstract photographic representations of pieces of Dante’s Inferno. For the full series and to see how the photos fit into the prose, please visit this link:

http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html

All of the photos from the Dantesque Journey were taken with my Nikon FM2, a 135mm Nikon e-series lens or a 50mm Nikkor lens, 400 ISO colour negative film and a red filter mounted on the lens using my Cokin P-Series filter system.

O Lucifer, Son of the Morning!

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:19:45 +0000

[Virgil] stepped aside, and stopping me, announced:

“This is is he, this is Dis; this is the place

that calls for all the courage you have in you.”

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. pg. 380, Lines 19-21, Canto XXXIV, Penguin Classics, Indiana University, 2003

This is part of my Dantesque Journey series, which can be viewed by copying and pasting this link into your browser:

http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html

In ancient Greece, the ruler of the Underworld and the dead was Hades, whose realm took his name. In Latin, his name was Dis. Later he would be called Lucifer by St. Jerome after a misreading of the bible (Davidson 176)

Lucifer is perhaps the most misunderstood angel of all. Upon mentioning the name, anyone even familiar with Western religion at all contrives an image of Evil, winged and terrible as the end. However, Lucifer, I protest, is not the devil (this is not an original idea of mine, I am not making this up, all can be found in Gustav Davidson’s brilliant compendium of angelology A Dictionary of Angels). The misconception, as Davidson suggests, comes from an early misreading of the Book of Isaiah 14:12

“How art thou fallen from

heaven, O Lucifer, son of the

morning! How art thou cut down

to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”

This passage is actually directed at the King of Babylon. Book 14 of Isaiah describes the punishments of Nebuchadnezzar in Hell, and the rejoicing of the land once reaped, and the nations weakened under the rule of tyranny. Consider if the passage went like this:

“How art thou fallen from

heaven, O Lord! How art thou cut down

to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”

If this were how it was written, would you believe that the Lord is actually the Devil? Lucifer actually means “light giver” in Latin, and is written as a benevolent being in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, a Latin Roman text written in 100 A.C.E, a full century after Christ! Gustav Davidson’s dictionary provides a vibrant spectrum of information on Lucifer, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to pick up this book if you have any interest at all in angels.

I am the way into the doleful city

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:13:55 +0000

“I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY,

I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF,

I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE.

JUSTICE IT WAS THAT MOVED MY GREAT CREATOR;

DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME,

AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE.

BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS

WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY.

ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER.”

- The inscription of Hell’s Gate

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. pg. 89, Lines 1-9, Canto III, Penguin Classics, Indiana University, 2003

This photo is part of a series of abstract photographic representations of different passages from Dante’s Inferno. To view the full series and how each photograph fits into the prose, please visit this link:

http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html

…And so I looked and saw a kind of banner…

danbaxter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:10:53 +0000

“And so I looked and saw a kind of banner

Rushing ahead, whirling with aimless speed

As though it would not ever take a stand;

Behind it an interminable train

Of souls pressed on, so many that I wondered

How death could have undone so great a number.”

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy Volume 1: Inferno. pg. 91, Lines 52-57, Canto III, Penguin Classics, Indiana University, 2003

This photograph is part of a series of abstract representations of scenes from Dante’s Inferno, the first book in his Divine Comedy. You can see the full series and how each photo fits into the prose by visiting this link:

http://www.soma-sema.com/old/Abstract/dantesque-journey.html