A Student's Perspective on Exhibit "Reiterated Histories"

Reiterated Histories

Reiterated Histories by Pippi Miller allows the viewer to step inside a world in which one can feel the sense of childlike wonder again. By using a combination of photography skills, and layering techniques Miller has somehow managed to create a world in which the longer you look at it, the more details you see and the more you feel as if you could step into the image. One particular photograph stood out to me in this way, allowing me to almost smell the smoke from the fireworks, Miller’s print “Spark” portraying her son watching fireworks alongside other adults and children. “Spark” took me back to a time where I spent my days playing in the pool with friends, my eyes burning from the chlorine, my head aching from exhaustion, but my excitement stirring as I waited for the sun to finally go down so that I could watch my father light up the sky in a way that I could only fathom as magic.

Spark digital photo by Pippi Miller 

   Miller invites viewers into her private life, allowing them to see glimpses of her son in his most true forms, pure joy as he dances in the rain in “Rain, “excitement and contentment for the unknown in “Free, “and the very relatable look her son gives that I myself can only interpret as being “over it” in her photograph “The Look.”

Although it is quite easy to focus on Miller’s son when looking at her work as he is a significant focus of it, it is important to remember the overall theme of the show. Reiterated Histories follows Miller’s son growing, learning, and changing in the same environment that she did, giving her new perspectives on old places. Miller stated, “He inhabits these places now, making new memories, a new reiteration of my experiences changed by how I view him in them. They layer on one another, creating a shared existence, stratifying the moments between me, the being I created, the ones who created me, and all the invisible strangers that these trees, these waters, this light bore witness too.”

Spun digital photo by Pippi Miller

If one looks at the artwork within the show closer, it can easily be seen that there is also an overarching theme of rebirth. A great example of this rebirth can be found in the photograph entitled “Spun,” by using the layering technique above Miller is able to show leaves that are on the tree at the present moment of the photograph and the way that they changed as time went on. One reason I particularly care for this photo is that even if one recognized a tree from years prior and it looked the exact same, it would actually not be the same tree as the original leaves one born witness to have likely fallen, as well as possibly some limbs; becoming discarded sticks on the ground. Trees represent a mixture between new and old, of wisdom and wonder as does Miller’s view on her son growing up in the same place that she did, discovering himself and new things and places, just like she did. 

Miller often combines the two themes as well, her son combined with a sense of nature that once again allows the viewer to see the object with a sense of childlike wonder and awe that we as adults all too often forget exists. In the photograph, “Count” Miller displays her young son's hand touching a tree stump that is likely hundreds of years old. Although many did not know it at the time that tree became part of their stories, even if they simply glanced at it and then moved along on their way without thinking a second thought of it. That tree stump could have been seen by Pippi, her parents, or even her grandparents. Through “Count,” I feel that Miller is iterating how we are all connected in a way, sharing bits of air, or the same sight of a tree. The circular rings on the tree show how we are all connected and how we have been for much longer than we have ever known.

Count digital photo by Pippi Miller

All in all, Millers “Reiterated Histories” takes viewers on a journey exploring the beautiful New River Valley area, even introducing nostalgia for places they may not have been. The exhibit “Reiterated Histories” will be on display at the Squires Perspective Art Gallery until October 13th, 2019. The gallery hours can be found at Perspective Gallery

-Kaitlyn Sullivan
 Perspective Gallery Lead
 Virginia Tech Class of 2020