--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Now, at a moment when photography is so…" description: "\"Now, at a moment when photography is so pervasive that it's been forced to grapple with its own identity and look inward, it feels like a natural momen..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/417/cynthia-daignault-38838_america_now-at-a-moment-when-photography-is-so-p_1546545.jpg" --- # Now, at a moment when photography is so pervasive that… ![“Now, at a moment when photography is so pervasive that it's been forced to grapple with its own identity and look inward, it feels like a natural moment for painting to look out, to reclaim that directive of picturing America.” quote by Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/417/cynthia-daignault-38838_america_now-at-a-moment-when-photography-is-so-p_1546545.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/417/cynthia-daignault-38838_america_now-at-a-moment-when-photography-is-so-p_1546545.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/417/cynthia-daignault-38838_america_now-at-a-moment-when-photography-is-so-p_1546545.jpg) > “Now, at a moment when photography is so pervasive that it's been forced to grapple with its own identity and look inward, it feels like a natural moment for painting to look out, to reclaim that directive of picturing America.” [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photography’s ubiquity forces it to self‑examine, prompting painting to re‑engage with depicting American life. **In simple terms:** Painting can respond to photography’s dominance by focusing on American scenes. Key Takeaway Use painting to explore contemporary American identity. Themes art identity culture mediums Mood contemplative inspired Type artistic reflective When to use this quote - gallery exhibitions - public murals - art education - community projects Key Concepts self‑reflection visual narrative national myth Questions to Reflect On - How can painters make American stories resonate today? - What visual strategies can compete with photography’s immediacy? A Different Perspective Painting may still be eclipsed by digital media’s reach. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Inward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inward/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [Moment Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment-painting-5770607/) [Moment Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment-photography-5770606/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Photography Pervasive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography-pervasive-4408427/) [Picturing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/picturing-353360/) [Picturing America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/picturing-america-5770605/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Perhaps 'photography' has become so all-pervasive that it no longer makes sense to think about it as a discreet practice or field of inquiry.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-paglen/perhaps-photography-has-become-so-all-pervasive-that-it-no-longer/) [Trevor Paglen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-paglen/) > [Great photography comes about at the right time but it also needs the right cut that enhances that precise moment. Photography must feed on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augusto-de-luca/great-photography-comes-about-at-the-right-time-but-it-also-needs-the/) [Augusto De Luca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augusto-de-luca/) > [For me, going back to itinerant landscape painting, it's not about returning to an older method, but about building on what happened in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/for-me-going-back-to-itinerant-landscape-painting-it-s-not-about/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [Painting is the chance to create a different space, or different way of picturing a literal stream of images.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/painting-is-the-chance-to-create-a-different-space-or-different-way/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [“The curse of imagination is picturing the world as it should be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morley/the-curse-of-imagination-is-picturing-the-world-as-it-should-be/) [Morley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morley/) > [Visualizing, creative mental picturing, is no more difficult than what you do when you remember some scene out of the past, or worry about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxwell-maltz/visualizing-creative-mental-picturing-is-no-more-difficult-than-what/) [Maxwell Maltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxwell-maltz/) > [To paint is a possessing rather than a picturing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-guston/to-paint-is-a-possessing-rather-than-a-picturing/) [Philip Guston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-guston/) > [Picturing things, taking a view, is what makes us human; art is making sense and giving shape to that sense. 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Or what it's like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/do-you-know-what-it-s-like-to-love-someone-so-much-that-you-can-t-see/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [To keep the Golden Rule we must put ourselves in other people's places, but to do that consists in and depends upon picturing ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-emerson-fosdick/to-keep-the-golden-rule-we-must-put-ourselves-in-other-people-s-2/) [Harry Emerson Fosdick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-emerson-fosdick/) > [Sometimes no matter how strong your imagination is and how many days you spend picturing a life with a woman, she turns out to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-viall/sometimes-no-matter-how-strong-your-imagination-is-and-how-many-days/) [Nick Viall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-viall/) > [“The picturing of data allows us to be sensitive not only to the multiple hypotheses that we hold, but to the many more we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tukey-1974/the-picturing-of-data-allows-us-to-be-sensitive-not-only-to-the/) [Tukey 1974](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tukey-1974/) > [“I never tired of picturing sharks.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-granfors/i-never-tired-of-picturing-sharks/) [Eileen Granfors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-granfors/) > [I have a rotten habit of picturing the bedroom scenes of my friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-have-a-rotten-habit-of-picturing-the-bedroom-scenes-of-my-friends/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## More by Cynthia Daignault > [I could name many women who travel or who work with America as a theme. I think it was more not being able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/i-could-name-many-women-who-travel-or-who-work-with-america-as-a/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [Painting is the chance to create a different space, or different way of picturing a literal stream of images.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/painting-is-the-chance-to-create-a-different-space-or-different-way/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [Artworks, whether fiction, music, or painting, because they have the power and possibility to become truth, when repeated enough or told enough are somehow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/artworks-whether-fiction-music-or-painting-because-they-have-the/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [We talk often about being in a media-saturated society, and we are surrounded by image streams. But it's nihilistic. There's a real randomness to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/we-talk-often-about-being-in-a-media-saturated-society-and-we-are/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [For me, going back to itinerant landscape painting, it's not about returning to an older method, but about building on what happened in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/for-me-going-back-to-itinerant-landscape-painting-it-s-not-about/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [Depiction can override truth the same way that memory can override experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/depiction-can-override-truth-the-same-way-that-memory-can-override/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [On a surface level, regionalism is gone, if we define regionalism as human culture. But, what if we define regionalism as something older than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/on-a-surface-level-regionalism-is-gone-if-we-define-regionalism-as/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [One of the reasons I work serially, but also one of the reasons that I try to claim space in painting, is I'm desperately…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/one-of-the-reasons-i-work-serially-but-also-one-of-the-reasons-that-i/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [There are many options for how images can aggregate not to nihilism, but to significance, or to meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-daignault/there-are-many-options-for-how-images-can-aggregate-not-to-nihilism/) [Cynthia Daignault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-daignault/) > [Stores are the same everywhere; small downtowns are done. Not just in America, but globally. 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Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. 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