The importance of our narratives........

The above image is....well, exactly what is it?

For many of us, when we look at an image we want to

know what it is supposed to depict. (A narrative)

(Is it a representation of something ''real'', does it have

an underlying meaning, is the artist trying to say something

specific with the image?)

Non-representative (abstract) art however, does not offer us a clear

narrative, rather, if anything, it often offers us fragments,

and that at times, can be quite confrontational.

''We never look at just one thing, we are always looking at the

relation between things and ourselves.'' (John Berger)

A child comes home from school and excitedly exclaims: ''Mummy, 

look what I painted today, I painted my happy feelings!''

The child hands the mother a piece of paper.

''Look! Doesn't this look like happy feelings!'' says the child beaming

with pride.

The mother looks at the piece of paper in her hand, 

conscious of that what she says next may be crucial

for her child's creative development.

She opts for enthusiasm: ''Wonderful, darling, good job! Let's

put it on the fridge for the others to see.''

When we look at a work of art, whether it is a painting, sculpture,

photograph, or an installation, etc., often our first response is to ascertain

how ''realistic'' we think it is. '

''That's so good, it looks so real!'' is a common response. 

Another common response is: ''What's this supposed to be? 

Looks like something a kid could do. I don't get it.''

(There are many terms we use in our everyday conversations that

we regard as ''real'' and ''actual''  phenomenon such as mind, consciousness,

reality, emotions, thoughts, etc.etc. although we have no physical evidence

 which we can utilize to actually prove empirically that such exist.)

When my son was in grade one he did a painting that I loved, but his

teacher did not. In his painting, the sky was red, not blue, the trees

had purple trunks and orange foliage, the house was white with enormous

windows and a tiny door, and the ''grass'' was dark gray and not green.

My, interpretation of my son's painting was that he had a great imagination,

his teacher, told me that she was worried about him since he seemed 

to not be able to see things ''as they really are''.

Alas, my son's first abstract painting.

The word abstract comes from a Latin word meaning ''detached from reality''.

Which to me is kind of funny, since ''reality'' for me is a term/concept which

only exists in the ''abstract'', and its very definition depends on a subjective

point of view.

 (There may be as many ''realities'' as there are human beings.

Or, there may be two realities which we inhabit simultaneously; 

 one only you know and inhabit, 

and a collective reality in which all of us function daily.)

For a child, painting happy feelings may be no more abstract than

being told that 2+2=4 . The child may ask: what is a number? who decided

what a number is? 

Or a child may ask: why do rainbows suddenly disappear?

Or, the child may ask: why do I feel funny when Bobby doesn't want to

play with me? It feels like pain, but I can't see where the pain is.

Those in the know say that we understand life through

stories/narratives. 

Narratives we tell ourselves, and narratives others tell us.

Our narratives help us understand our place in the world

and how to makes sense out of it.

When we view a work of art onto which we cannot

place any part of our narrative, it becomes ''abstract'' to us, hence,

it makes no sense.

While visiting a Surrealist Exhibition with a friend, 

we came across an installation that puzzled my friend.

''This installation makes no sense'', she said.

Look at it, it's just bits and pieces all over the place.''

I looked at the installation, and then I looked at the shadows

on the ceiling that was created by the bits and pieces.

''Look at the ceiling, Mags, what do you see?'' I said.

''Aah,'' she said, '' it's a sitting room!''

''Now I get it!''

She had her narrative, and the installation was no longer abstract.

''Abstraction allows man to see with his mind 

 what he cannot physically see with his eyes.''

(Arshile Gorky)

PS: The above image is a photo of water flowing across seaweed

covered rocks, with bubbles floating on top.

No editing, just straight from the lens on an

analogue camera.

Old is a mindset, aging is what happens to our bodies......

At the end of the movie, the once powerful man finds

himself unable to breathe without the help of an oxygen tank.

No matter how powerful he had once been, he, just like the

rest of us, was(is) powerless to prevent the aging process from taking

place.

Aging, is something that starts from the moment we are conceived,

however, I think for many of us, aging is something that we associate with

''old people''.

Exactly what is an old person? Ask a three year old, and an old person

is someone older than them, which may be an older sibling who is

10 years old, or his/her parents who may be in their 20's.

A teenager may consider someone in their 40's an old person,

someone in their 40's may consider someone in their 60's

as an old person, etc. etc.

The Urban dictionary: ''Old is when you are told to slow down by

your doctor instead of the police.

Old is when ''getting lucky'' means you can find your car in the car park.''

Like with so many words, how we define the word ''old'' varies from

person to person, and culture to culture.

Some say that ''old'' has to do with our mindset, whereas ''aging'' is what

happens to our bodies.

So, hypothetically, it seems to me that it is quite possible

 to be an ''aged'' person, yet not be ''old''.

(As far as I can ascertain, mindsets can be altered regardless of a 

person's physical age.)

So what do I mean with mindset? 

A person's way of thinking and his/her opinions,

a person's frame of mind, a person's default mental attitude/state of mind,

a person's way of processing information.....etc.

Physical aging may be inevitable, but the ''age'' of our mindsets can remain

''youthful'' and flexible as long as we so choose. 

(Unless we suffer with some form of dementia.)

If we view the aging process as something ''negative'', 

something to fight against, then it can be difficult to consider 

potential ''positives''. 

Mindset in my view, is paramount to how we experience the aging process.

Instead of focusing our attention on what we perhaps no longer can do,

we can turn our minds to what we can do.

''I can still walk, although not as fast, I can still read, but I need my

glasses, I can still hear, but I need my hearing aids, I can still

enjoy a swim, although not as far, I can still enjoy a meal, a conversation,

a game of cards, a concert, a movie etc. with good friends, etc.etc.''

(In some cultures less obsessed with body image, 

attributes such as insight, wisdom, experience, perspective, 

and knowledge, are often valued.

 Since such attributes more often than not are obtained through life

 experiences and years under the belt, elders in such 

societies are often viewed with respect and high regard.)

There is a myth that most old people are grumpy people.

I use the word ''myth'' because according to research, older people are no 

more likely to be grumpy or crotchety than anyone else.

Actually, some research shows the opposite.

Whether someone is grumpy or not, has more to do with

personality and mindset than age.

''If we view every day as an awakening, we will never grow old,

we will just keep growing.''  (Gail Sheedy)

 Our bodies, much like the body of a well-used car, will eventually 

wear out. We may replace parts, re-paint the body, do touch-up jobs

here and there, but without a working engine, we will not go far.

A car with a ''scrappy'' looking body but with a well-working engine, 

is still appreciated and useful,

however, a car with a good-looking body but with a low-functioning

engine....not so much.

How great it is that if we so want, 

we can renew our mindsets

each and every day

regardless of what

our bodies look like!

About the image: It is a sketch made with graphite on tracing paper and

 then edited in Photoshop and Pxlr.

The movie was about a man who who spent his life in the 

pursuit of power, money, and control and with little time for

love and compassion. In the last scene he sits in a chair hooked up

to all kinds of machines, drips, and oxygen tanks.

Alone. And very bitter.

Feeling awkward sometimes? Let it go........

The awkward child

Other girls like playing with Barbies,

cutesy looking dolls and cuddly soft toys.

She likes playing the downstairs piano,

hitting small balls against stucco covered walls.

They like to wear, skirts and pretty dresses,

flirt with the boys and make fun of their toys.

She likes to wear, jeans just like Jesse's,

make friends with the boys and play with their toys.

They like rabbits, kittens and horses,

bright coloured rainbows and sweet smelling roses.

She likes sneakers, jazz and blues records,

black and white movies and unusual keyboards.

 They call her names, none of them nice,

circulating gossip and mean-spirited lies. 

She pretends their words, don't hurt, don't bite,

cause she know's in her heart, she's alright.

*

''Awkwardness is an invitation to vulnerability,

and vulnerability is where intimacy and connection is found.''

(Sammy Rhodes)

*

In my view, feeling awkward is a response that we project

onto ourselves when we allow others opinions of us

 to matter more than our own.

*

about the painting: acrylic on canvas .....what summer may feel like for a child

in a leafy European forest....

Time is more than a clock, it's an experience...........

What is time?

Is it the ''indefinite continued progress of existence

and events in the past, present and the future regarded

as a whole''?

Or is time what the clocks(any kind thereof) tell us?

Thing is, time as experienced and time as measured are

two very different matters.

An hour spent in for example: a dentist chair, in solitary confinement,

in a traffic queue, waiting for a result at the doctors, waiting

for a child to return home, waiting for a partner/friend/etc. to call,

etc.etc. can feel very different to an hour of having fun.

The clock may tell us that an hour has passed, but often, as during

the above examples, we experience time as passing markedly slower

than when we are doing something we enjoy.

According to the Persian philosopher Avicenna ''time is merely

a feature of our memories and expectations''.

I think he has a point. Consider how with mere thoughts

we can ''time travel'', and with that I mean that at any point in time

we can revisit a memory from the past by bringing it forth with a mere thought.

We can also ''travel'' forward in time by envisaging what we expect will

take place. ''I have booked my trip to Hawaii for next month, but in my

mind I am already there sipping a pina colada".

According to some, we find it much harder to be truly present

in the here and now, than to either be reflecting on the past 

or speculating about the future.

And the reason for this, some say, is because we are hard-wired

to do so for evolutionary/survival purposes. We learn from the past

which helps us to predict and plan for what may come in the future.

So, when do we actually get to live in the now then?

This can be problematic, because according to some, our intelligent

cognition finds it hard to view time as anything other than

 a continuous and linear process. A millisecond before the 

present moment is already the past, and a millisecond after, is

already the future.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Buddhist suggests that ''Life is available

only in the present moment.'' 

In one of Thich Nhat Hanh books (forget which one) I read something

 that has helped me better understand what living in the

here and now/present means.

''When you eat or drink something, focus all your

attention on the taste. If the mind wanders, bring

it back to the taste.''

Easy, I thought. Not so much. I discovered that pin-pointing my

attention for an extended period of time on only one sense(taste),

can be quite tricky.

But, it worked. I have never tasted an apple so delicious.

Allowing the taste of the apple to take over my mind

completely I experienced the now.

The experience itself.

(Of course once I finished the apple, the mind started to wander again.)

Time, it seems to me, is mostly experienced subjectively.

Time can fly or it can drag.

Time can be saved or it can be lost.

Time can be squandered or it can be treasured.

Time can heal all wounds or it can harden a heart.

You can be out of time or just in time.

You can waste time or you can spend time.

You can make good time or run out of time.

You can have a hard time or you can have an easy time.

You can have a wonderful time or an awful time.

''Until you value yourself, you won't value your time.

Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.''

(M. Scott Peck)

about the painting: acrylic on canvas, painted only with a small roller, no brush.

Next to the man's head on the right side you can see a man's face,

which is what the old prisoner looked like when he was first interned.