SamanĂ¡ Remembered
Aesthetic Realism says that the more we are related to, the larger we are. When I gave Alonso Johnson this photograph taken with his grandson Eddie, he said: "You made me such a big man, Miss Mary." His body curves like the palm tree trunks, there is an angle in his elbow like the angles formed by the palm tree branches, and his shoulders continue in the horizon.



A palm tree trunk and sea-grape branch meet the earth in a triangle that joins Mr. Johnson and his grandson across the large tree trunk that would otherwise separate them. The impersonal rock, with its little outcropping, is in a similar triangular shape. From Aesthetic Realism, I learned that nearness and distance, personal and impersonal are opposites that every family is trying to make sense of. Families are looking for the composition that art has. I am so glad I gave my friend his photo. He passed away while I was in the field.