I recently got a well-worn copy of Unknown Territory: Photographs of Ray K. Metzker, which I’ve wanted for a long time.
“I recognize the desire, the need to affirm. This requires reverence and a belief that there is purpose and meaning to our being. To make work and life meaningful is a struggle. Were we not to try, life would be sad and empty. From the magnitude and intensity of the struggle comes the greatness we hope for.”
— Ray K. Metzker, quoted in Unknown Territory: Photographs of Ray K. Metzker
“Rage is about the world not being what it could be. The euphemism for this is passion. It is often triggered by disappointment or dissatisfaction. In the artist, it has to be more than anger; it has to be rage. The fire has to burn strong. What saves the artist is that working caps the rage and channels it into something constructive.
If you have any intelligence, you realize that rage will destroy you, so you have to discover sweetness, to seek balance.”
— Ray K. Metzker, quoted in Unknown Territory: Photographs of Ray K. Metzker