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Photography, Text & Video by Janelle Tong, Copyright 2017
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THE ESSENCE OF BALANCE
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The world as we know it operates in a constant balancing act. In an isolated chemical system, mass can neither be created nor destroyed and instead can only be affected by physical transformation. In art, the contrasts between light and dark balance to create a wide array of visual effects that can either capture reality as we perceive it or provide a distorted interpretation of the world around us. In music, there is balance between melody and harmony, between loud and soft, between the strings and brass, between major and minor keys—all of which, combined, results in a seamless narrative and musical progression through the piece.
With this context in mind, I used two violins—one traditional violin made of wood and one modern violin made of carbon fiber—to embody the essence of balance in art as a whole. From examining each instrument individually, we can find a multitude of balanced elements. From the mirrored f-shaped holes on the violin’s face to the even distribution of the four strings across the bridge and even to the symmetrical curves along the sides of the instrument, the violin physically represents what it means to be balanced. Furthermore, through positioning the instruments in a yin-yang fashion, we can explore how these two instruments can still balance each other in different visual scenarios. Considering the two violins are made from completely different materials, it creates an interesting contrast when comparing how the light interacts with their faces as well as how the contours of each instrument form shadows. Light and dark, forward and backward, left and right—the combinations of poses for both instruments are endless, which is yet another testament to how well these two violins can visually capture the essence of balance.
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About The Author: Janelle Tong is a Senior enrolled in the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2017. To read additional articles by Janelle Tong, go here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/janelle-tong-stream-emotional-consciousness/