Michael Crocker

Natural Perceptions

The series Natural Perceptions challenges human decision making in developing conclusions from given visual stimuli. 

What the eye sees is not always real. The perceptions of truth we develop can easily become devoid of reality. Truth, knowledge and belief have become blurred notions of everyday life. In a digital age of social media and news outlets with camouflaged political bias, separating fact from fiction has never held more importance. Living within in a global culture of untruths and misinformation, decision making based on critical analysis of information presented is becoming a forgotten skill. 

Psychologist and epistemologist Jean Piaget discussed the theory of Constructivism in the early twentieth century. It was Piaget who devised that knowledge and learning are an active and constructive process where the learner constructs subjective knowledge on the basis of active experience and perception.

“Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality.”

Jean Piaget

Perception noun    

a belief or opinion, often held by many people and based on how things seem.

Without perception, we have no real knowledge. Perceptions exist as multi layered conclusions derived of the senses and not fact. The things we see and hear lead us to develop perceptions based on what is presented to us. 

This collection of photographs allows the viewer to negotiate a discourse surrounding the conclusions they may impulsively make and to perhaps see beyond what is initially presented.  

Using Format