This photo was taken when I was much (*much*) younger, and not yet aware of the subtleties of the art world. However, as I have grown, I have come to realise that it was in fact a premonition of the present when I became aware of the conflict present in the world surrounding me.

This single image represents many such conflicts:
- The struggle of nature (in the bear) vs. the repression of the material world and the destruction of it's (the bear's) physicality and the ensuing reduction to a mere two dimensional shadow of it's previous self.

- The struggle of the wandering soul (in this case the tourist) vs. the reality of the alien environment he finds himself within - a world that, although he believes is centred on him, it in fact centres on the small boy taking a photograph. Also a struggle of communication as the linguistic faculty of the man is cast in serious doubt by personal experience.

- The struggle of the inner child vs. the repression of a post modern society. The child in the mirror creating the picture is an image of himself. Twice copied, his very soul has been extracted via the process of reflection and photography. He is also annoyed that the stupid tourist thinks the photo is of him, when in actual fact it was meant to be a 'cool' photograph of the artist and (most of) his immediate family in the mirror located under the bears arm, implying that either a) we are very small/the bear is very big or b) that I managed to get a photograph of me taking a photoghraph of me taking a photograph of me taking a photograph of me...ad infinitum...




- note: Yes, the title does come from the sign that has been cut off on the left of the image.
I stuck it in Phototography->Tourist because it is a photo of a tourist...well, HE thinks it is! Just look at his smile!