37 degrees - rediscovering the ordinary at Whistle Pik Galleries - 1/6 -1/31

Words from the photographer - Jessica Taylor

What makes us matter?
Something in all of us wants a place in this world- however small. We want something to feel significant. We lay claim to accomplishments, place boundaries around the things we own- we manufacture an independent spirit.

Is it our uniqueness that makes us matter?
Across the street or an ocean we all have things in common. I walk through doorways in Kenya where children dress for school and markets open early. The moon rises over the Mekong river, as dinner is set and fisherman cast their nets. In Sudan we dance in thunderstorms, and stumble through language barriers. We drink chai together in Laos and coffee in Ethiopia- engaging in their ordinary has given me a deeper look into the soul of a place, of the culture, of people I have come to know as close friends.

To us, our routines and daily lives are ordinary.

We each live surrounded by our own version of ordinary. Maybe it isn’t the accomplishments or boundaries we build that make us unique. Maybe it is our ordinary that makes us unique. If this is true- just maybe we are missing something beautiful by racing through the ordinary in our life, ignoring the simple tasks that make us both unique, and that make us human.

With these photographs, I invite you into ordinary places, and challenge you to see more than the subject within the frame- to actually encounter them- and all of the hope, truth and complexity that comes with it.

37 degrees celsius: the core body temperature of humanity.

Whistle Pik Galleries is at 425 East Main Street. Call (830) 990-8151 for more information.