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"Two Forks"
by
Allison Frye
When I saw this photo, as strange as it is, I was drawn back towards it many times and forced to stop and give it another look. I wondered what made the artist decide to create this piece. All I saw at first was the tops of two forks facing each other with the tips of their tongs intertwined. The photograph was in all black and white and didn't have anything in the background to distract the viewer's eyes away from the forks. Did it have any significant meaning, or was it just merely two pieces of flatware that became entangled to provide a meaningless inspiration? To me the two forks symbolize having to make a choice in life and that life has it good times and its hard times.
The two bare, three tong forks are intertwined showing at least six paths that you may have to choose from on your journey through life. It is classically a picture of a fork in the road. You are unable to see where the tongs end, such as in life, where no one can see what each road could bring to their future. You are forced to choose your path using only the road under your feet to guide you. What lies at the end of each of the six paths? Maybe one is a life of ease and happiness, but the road next to it leads to sadness and a lifetime of hard work. We are all forced to choose our own path using only the road beneath our feet.
There is silver in it that reveals when the road is smooth like a sleeping ocean, with a calmness waiting to be awakened by the stormy pain and turmoil that life is inevitably going to bring. The silver streaks remind me of the very brief moments in life when the world all around me becomes very calm, and silent without any disaster. Within the slickness of the silver creeps in the shadowy grey, dark and sad like clouds imposing on a warm summer's day. The shadows take there form within the curves, the most dangerous place for them to impose. The darkness makes it so that as you go through the twist and turns of your very own existence, you may stumble into a blind curve, never being able to see what the road has in store for you or if you are going to crash.
I see this picture as representing the many choices we have to make in life, having to go through dark times, and decide which path is the best choice for ourselves. It shows me the windy roads that we all have to journey down, and inspires me to be true to myself, and to the road that leads me to my future.