Sofia invites us to revisit Lens-Artists Challenge #20 – from 2018. Sofia has done extensive and exquisite Door photography – do visit her blog! I found another Lens-Artists Challenge on Doors from 2022. Here’s a link to my response to that one.
How has my perspective on Doors changed since then? Have I found new doors to photograph?
Yes. I have discovered even more portals. And I’ve even learned a new term – “multiverse”. I try to imagine the infinite possibilities of doors.
“The un-wanting soul sees what’s hidden. The ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants. Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery. Mystery of all mysteries, the door to the hidden.” ~ Tao Te Ching
Lens-Artists are starting a periodic series of retrospective challenges. This week, Ann-Christine is reaching back to revisit “Creativity”. Click HERE to view my original post on that theme.
So, once again, creativity inspires more creativity, like a series of mirrors.
I can’t say that I’m a painter, except that last month I helped paint the interior of a preschool. I used a roller and a 4-inch brush. I did exactly as I was told, with very little creativity.
Sometimes I will try hard to do a craft. Again, I follow directions and try to copy the example. The results are routinely unremarkable.
I am more adventurous with music and dance and often improvise. I love the freedom of expression I’ve gained after decades of practice and years of aging to the point of no longer trying to impress. Maybe that’s something the very young, the very old, and the very confident can get away with.
Once upon a time, I gave dinner parties. I’ve never been a good cook, but I can follow a recipe. What I really enjoyed as a creative exercise was setting the stage!
My daughter Susan is a very good artist. She took me to an open studio bar once for a Mother’s Day gift. We had a blast, and I got to keep all the art.
At a healthy, creative restaurant and store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I came across this re-purposed cigarette vending machine that was selling original artwork the size of a pack of cigarettes. I’d never seen anything like it before or since.
No one creates in a vacuum. We are all influenced, we all use shared resources. We are co-creators or collaborators, really. I’m most proud of the contribution I made to creating four wonderful human beings. They are all stunning, vibrant, living works of art. I’m proud of the work I do each day to try to create meaning. I’ve scrapped much of that work, but I keep at it. The exhibit that is my Life is a work in progress. I’m grateful for the opportunity to engage in the process that Einstein called “intelligence having fun”.
“Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.” ― Lao Tzu
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” ― G.K. Chesterton
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Lao Tzu
“The beauty of meditation is that you never know where you are, where you are going, what the end is.” ― J. Krishnamurti
“Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in” – Leonard Cohen, Anthem
“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” – Italian proverb
“We asked for signs The signs were sent The birth betrayed The marriage spent Yeah, and the widowhood Of every government Signs for all to see
I can’t run no more With that lawless crowd While the killers in high places Say their prayers out loud But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up A thundercloud They’re going to hear from me” – Anthem, cont’d
My country is suffering and divided. There is a crack, deep and wide, in our governing system. So many people have forgotten the good that was intended by the democracy we tried to create. It is terrifying to contemplate a future with an aspiring dictator. I’m hoping that our vote next week is a bell that can still ring for justice, for freedom, for government of the people, by the people, for the people.
There is a Japanese art called “kintsugi” where broken pottery is mended with gold, filling the cracks, drawing the pieces back together. Its spiritual significance is that if we choose to embrace our struggles and repair ourselves with the precious metal of love, we can become more beautiful for having been broken. My friend uses this idea in her garden, where she mends broken glass with small, colorful chips. Her garden is a riot of colors – dahlias, vegetables, and ornaments. Many of her decorations have become cracked and worn over time, left to the elements.
I spent this last week at my friend’s house, caring for her dog Bodhi, while she traveled.
Bodhi is an older rescue dog. She has only one eye, with a cataract. She doesn’t hear very well, and she is currently battling bladder stones. She becomes very anxious when she is left alone. Even with these imperfections, she is a sweet presence of love, always wanting to be beside me, stretched out in the sunlight on the warm carpet, and even more thrilled when she is allowed to jump onto the bed with me.
All week long, I have been thinking of the lyrics of Cohen’s Anthem. I have been thinking of “The Gifts of Imperfection” (a book by Brené Brown); I have been pondering the state of the Union. I have been willfully ringing the bells that still sound in my community: justice, equity, transformation, pluralism, interdependence, and generosity. And I have been trying to pour Love into every crack, every heart, every word, every action I engage with. I do this with faith that the Light will pour in.
May it be so! Thank you, Ritva, for this beautiful inspiration!
“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for a change.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Our Challenge host for this week, Patti, writes, “It’s time to take a photographic detour off the straight and narrow path and veer into the territory of unexpected turns, switchbacks, detours, and zigzag lines, much like our journey through life itself!”
When I think of meandering rivers or of trails that switchback up and down a steep grade, I think of the dangers of a straight shot. Without zig-zagging a bit, you pick up too much speed. Too much sediment rushes downstream, you tumble head over heels, or you break down in exhaustion trying to go up against gravity. Slowing down and lengthening your path of travel allows you to see more sights, to savor life along the way.
It seems that in building structures, the zig-zag of diagonal beams builds strength and distributes stress. That sounds like something that could benefit us all.
I think seeking and celebrating all things Zigzag is a worthy Challenge!
What supports and informs the action playing out in the foreground?
There is always so much more history to a scene than we can ever imagine. Eons of evolution, dependent and co-arising, have gone into this particular instance and presentation of matter.
Background is a LOT. It can be overwhelming and distracting. Sometimes we minimize it in order to pay attention to the immediate subject.
Perhaps there is great wisdom in the practice of selecting and managing the background to our focus and our living when possible, while being humbly aware that there is so much more involved. We are all part of an interdependent web of life.
There is always more than we can comprehend at play. Be kind. Be humble.
Thank you, Ritva, for inviting us into this challenge. Do visit HER POST to learn great tips on background composition.
“She would only point out the salvation that was latent in his own soul, and in the soul of every man. Only connect! That was her whole sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.” – E.M. Forster, Howard’s End
My mother, a Radcliffe English major, used to quote Forster often. “Only connect!” she’d say, referring to a variety of ways that she’d joined thoughts and anecdotes and facts and trivia. I was mystified by this reference for a long time. I wrote a poem about her once, comparing this practice with my visual memory of her pairing up socks while sorting laundry. Helpfully, a Google search has led me to a new interpretation of that quote. The connection of prose and poetry, of head and heart, of physical, sexual, spiritual and intellectual energy alluded to in Forster’s novel reminds me of the theme in the 1927 film Metropolis – the intersection of industry and humanity.
I searched my recent photos to find illustrations of this concept. I quickly realized that I’d set my aspirations pretty high. I’m reaching for artistic expression that mirrors sweeping novels and ground-breaking cinema in my amateur snapshots! Well, let’s embrace that absurdity. Why not?
I finally came across a display of Love Locks on this pier on the Mississippi River in New Orleans. Here’s an AI generated summary of this cultural phenomenon (nodding to John’s challenge of last week): “Love locks, or padlocks of love, are a way for couples to symbolize their love by attaching them to a public fixture, such as a bridge, fence, or statue. The locks are often engraved with the couple’s names or initials, and sometimes the date, and the key is thrown away to symbolize their unbreakable bond. The tradition is thought to have originated in Serbia over a century ago when a young woman named Nada died of heartbreak after her lover was unfaithful. Inspired by her tragedy, local women began attaching padlocks to bridges with their names and those of their loved ones. The poet Desanka Maksimović later memorialized the story in a poem that helped spread the practice around the world. Today, love locks can be found in many cities: Paris, Cologne, Malta, Mount Huangshan.”
How do you anchor passion and hope? How do you create loving connection that endures in this technological age?
I find a precious connection in this moment between my sister and my son-in-love. It depicts two different generations connecting face to face, while his cell phone is idling in his hand.
This modern world can be overwhelmingly distorted and fragmented, filled with hard angles that force our soft bodies into tight spaces. How do we live in connection with all this, in right relationships where we are good for and good with the world around us?
Donna at Wind Kisses initiated this wonderful online connection between us Lens-Artists. Do go visit her post HERE for beautifully illustrated and intricate connections in Italy, Greece, and Turkey.
“Hope is a dimension of the soul … an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart. It transcends the world that is immediately experienced and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. … It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.” ― Vaclav Havel
Mahalia Jackson statue in Louis Armstrong Park, New Orleans
In this time of systemic and environmental collapse, which some call “unprecedented”, HOPEFULness is a very hot topic. Thank you, Patti, for having the courage to put it out there as our challenge this week! (See her interpretation HERE.)
My illustrations of Hopefulness were all gleaned from my very first trip to New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) last weekend. NOLA is a city with a unique history, a colorful layering of cultures and suffering and community awareness. I visited during the annual Jazz Festival with nine other members of my family. Humanity was evident everywhere! And the stories of relationships were palpable in the streets: indigenous, Creole, French, Spanish, African, and American people interacting in every way.
“It isn’t outcomes that matter. It’s our relationships that give meaning to our struggles. If we free ourselves from hope and fear, from having to succeed, we discover that it becomes easier to love.” ― Margaret J. Wheatley (author of Warriors for the Human Spirit)
JAMNOLA (Joy, Art, Music – New Orleans, LA) Wall of Intentions
Traveling with my sisters, and my adult children and their partners was a heart-filling intergenerational experience. We are all unique individuals, and we are all family. We value our own choices, and we value each other.
“We’ve learned that no matter how despairing the circumstance, it is our relationships that offer us solace, guidance, and joy. As long as we’re together, as long as we feel others supporting us, we can persevere.” ― Margaret J. Wheatley
I was struck by the stories of the Mardi Gras or Carnivale parade traditions in New Orleans. I suppose I had assumed they were about debauchery, hedonism, or self-aggrandizement. I now have learned that they are also about honoring the human spirit and community support. The African-American “krews” who make and parade in elaborate feather costumes in semblance of indigenous cultures are paying homage to the bravery of those tribal people who assisted slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad at the risk of their own lives. They raise their children in awareness of the price and practice of solidarity as they prepare annually for these parades as a family.
“…Only in the present moment, free from hope and fear, do we receive the gifts of clarity and resolve. Freed also from anger, aggression, and urgency, we are able to see the situation clearly, take it all in, and discover what to do.” ― Margaret J. Wheatley
So, I suppose I am interested in discovering what might lie beyond Hopefulness and fear. I am interested in building supportive relationships based on what is needed, on what is most important for the good of the whole community. May we all be able to support each other so that all may thrive.
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” ― Pablo Picasso
“Energy and motion made visible – memories arrested in space” ― Jackson Pollock
“But nobody is visually naive any longer. We are cluttered with images, and only abstract art can bring us to the threshold of the divine.” ― Dominique De Menil
I imagine the gift of abstract art is the nudge toward seeing things in a completely different way. Our attachment to “reality” is often a symptom of fear. When we are propelled away from the familiar, we have the opportunity for new discoveries, new wonders, new experiences of the divine creativity of the Universe. We risk being changed forever.
Thank you to Ritva for this invitation to explore abstracts! Click HERE to see her amazing examples.
Respect and reverence for the natural world seems to me a fundamental response to the age-old human questions, “Who am I?” and “What am I doing here?” We are elementally Earth Beings, located in space, looking to orient our lives in some sustainable balance. Traditions that honor the Four Directions speak of Rock or Earth as the element to the North.
“There is stability here, the ground of our being. The north represents the place that holds us, that allows us time and space to heal and grow, to feel nurtured and respected. It is also the place of embodiment, of connecting with our physical self, with the concrete, tangible world around us. The north calls to you if you are seeking balance, the deep wisdom that lives in your bones, a place of rest and recovery.” – Julia Hamilton
Inaugural Poem (excerpt) – Maya Angelou
A Rock, A River, A Tree Hosts to species long since departed, Marked the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens Of their sojourn here On our planet floor, Any broad alarm of their hastening doom Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, Come, you may stand upon my Back and face your distant destiny, But seek no haven in my shadow.
I will give you no more hiding place down here.
You, created only a little lower than The angels, have crouched too long in The bruising darkness, Have lain too long Face down in ignorance.
Your mouths spilling words Armed for slaughter.
The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me, But do not hide your face.
Thank you to Donna of Wind Kisses for inviting perspectives on how to Rock Your World. May you be grounded today, in balance and peace.
scillagrace 