Spots

The spot is something vague, hazy, or indistinct—a blurry idea of interpretation—that threads through many texts I have read, including Slovoj Zizek’s “Looking Awry.” The spot, also referred to in my interpretation as a blur or emptiness, represents a fog, a dimness, an obscurity that is bleary and confusing. The smear or smudge can seem out of place. One tries to look squarely at the spot to see the thing, but it is better viewed when looking sideways, askew. If looked at with a softened glance, the fuzzy, muddied, cloudy spot can begin to suggest the form or idea of something. In some instances, its symbolic nature creates reflection and in others it highlights an omission. A spot may be used intentionally. When looked at awry, a spot accumulates meaning, expressing something in nothing. The spot conveys emptiness, asking what blank spaces may imply. The spot is a metaphor for blurred, distorted memory.