Tyger Tyson. 1998: Ph. Jayson Keeling
I love large format photographs and ended up buying one today. I'm not a groupie. I've just always adored this 8 X 10 polaroid of the young Tyger Tyson, at the start of his career before he became Tyger Inc. The self-protective gesture of his hands, the fire in his eyes (is that pride or anger ?) and the red on red tonality is what makes this photograph memorable for me. That William Blake poem loops in my mind everytime I see it.
Which william blake Poem?
Which william blake Poem?
Tyger Tyger burning
Tyger Tyger burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry ?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger, tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?