Artist Susan Rukeyser’s piece “Lust for Love (5)” is a collection of five hybrid photography/spoken word tone poems exploring the tension created by images that imperfectly match the words spoken over them. The piece populates the negative space between the narrative told by the image and the narrative told by the words with a third narrative that fuses the image and text. This third narrative represents the emotional core of the piece, even though it is invisible and silent and comes into being only in the mind of the viewer who naturally seeks to create a meaningful connection between the image and the text. The tension between the image and text evokes more intimate tensions. Their ultimate harmonizing operates as a metaphor for how interpersonal relationships are also forums for conflict, negotiation, and resolution.

Susan Rukeyser is happiest at the intersection of word and image. She writes because she can’t stop. Believe it, she’s tried. She explains herself and posts links to published work here: www.susanrukeyser.com.