Artist's statement:
Does technology empower Man with more freedom in exploration or limits him with accustomed restrictions. From the field of communication to transportation and military innovations to scientific explorations, technology undeniably plays a pivotal role in their development. The speed and precision of technology has given Man unprecedented analytical and speculative competence that has greatly aided him in his understanding of his environment and formulating solutions to daily problems. Indubitably, technology has elevated Man's capability in problems solving and competence that are no longer restricted by his physical limitations. However, greater competence does not necessarily equate to a total eradication of limitations. In fact the paradox of technology lies in it being indispensable in Man's daily life. It would not be absurd to say that the daily operations would not be possible without technology. The Millenium Bug has proven to us our fragile vulnerability. Along with higher efficiency comes along with the heavy reliance. Insidiously, Man is imprisoned by his dependence on technology.
This piece of collage aims to speak of the paradox of technology. The steamship has brought Man to places further than where his physical body could have in an alarming speed. This means of transport symbolizes the leap in technological advances. Gifted with this vehicle, Man knows no limit in his exploration. In the vast ocean, the steamship does not navigate by prescribed routes. However in the collage, the steamship is juxtaposed with a railway track that speaks of prescribed and directional paths. Hence this juxtaposition implies the paradox of freedom and imprisonment of technology. The train could only bring us far with the presence of the track, without which it would be immobilized. The dependence of the train on the track represents Man's heavy reliance on technology, without which Man's advances would be stunted.
Technical explanation:
The three images are derived from three different sources. The fundamental elements are the railway track, boat and the water surface. These images are cropped from their original sources using magic wan and the cropping function. The brightness and contrast quality of these images are then altered to synchronize the light intensity of the images and improve their clarity. After juxtaposing these images together, their sizes are scaled, shapes distorted and position refined by rotation to attain the right perspective, proportion and composition of this final collage.