I’ve been doing “serious” photography since 1973 (davehigginsphotography.com), and I’ve been writing about the social and cultural implications of modern science since 1996 (quantumage.org and here). But it was just this year that I realized a way to link those diverse interests together in this photographic project. It offers a useful perspective for both art and for modern life.

We are led to believe that we live in an Either/Or world. We split life into binary qualities: Black or White, Male or Female, Gay or Straight, Individual or Collective, Rich or Poor, Religious or Secular. Based on our feelings about those qualities, we are labeled: Liberal or Conservative, Capitalist or Socialist, Believer or Infidel, Us or Them, Good or Evil.

Our world is filled with and defined by these dichotomies. But what if this dualism is flawed?

Modern physics has revealed that, at the most basic level, things are innately capable of exhibiting both individual particle and collective wave qualities. Any perceived difference is due only to how an entity is observed. In the quantum world, it’s not a matter of Either/Or; it’s a matter of Both/And.

Some high school students in Joshua, Texas paint artwork on their assigned parking spaces. In one sense, the results are wonderful examples of individual creativity. But they don’t exist by themselves. Other nearby spaces, as well as the place and time in which they were painted, shape our perception of this art.

With these images I am exploring how both the individual parking space art and its context coalesce to create a distinct, holistic reality. Viewing them offers us an opportunity to explore a Both/And approach to seeing our world.

♦ ♦

(Clicking on any image will open a slide show.)

♦ ♦

All photographs are © Dave Higgins and “Dave Higgins Photography,” 2021; all rights reserved.