gatheringinspo

[gatheringinspo]

Mediation Through Art

One day, whilst scrolling through Facebook, you see an ad for an upcoming art exhibition at your local gallery. It seems they are showcasing some work from a photographer that you’ve always thought made pretty cool work. This is perfect, you think to yourself. You have told yourself this year that you would make an effort to try new things, and being as accountable as you are, you click through the ad and purchase a ticket to what will be your first art exhibition. When the day comes, you find yourself excited for this new experience you have organised for yourself. You are one of the first people to walk through the gate as soon as they opened that morning, and once inside, you begin making your way steadily from photo to photo, doing your best to appreciate everything you see. After about 10 or so minutes, you find yourself in a part of the gallery alone; you look back and see that almost everybody who came in with you have their attention fixed on a particular painting you passed earlier - a painting you yourself thought was cool but had no particular interest in. 

You walk back over and ask one of the strangers, “what makes you stare so deeply into that photo?” What is it they see that you - someone who is new to art - have unwillingly dismissed so easily? The stranger tells you there are an endless number of answers to this question, and without trying to be cryptic, no answer exists that is more wrong or right. You are instructed simply by the stranger to “step back, move away from the superficial experience of seeing as this the essential first step in establishing a meaningful connection between yourself and the work”. You stand there for some time after hearing this, really thinking about this advice you have just been given. You’ve been staring so long that your eyes are starting to dry up, blurring your vision as they begin to tear up from dryness. In that moment looking through your watery eyes, it hits you, the lines between the image and the wall literally blur before you; this is it, the cue you’ve been holding out for. 

Like a dream, it begins... you’re pulled into this surreal scene that is equally familiar and strange to you. You don’t know where you’ve found yourself, but you know enough that certain things start to come back to you. You can feel the same breeze you felt on that one memorable day walking home from school 14 years ago and the sun that kisses the back of your neck is the same one you know. “Where the hell did this come from?”, you think to yourself. An amazing feeling comes rushing back that can be only described as a sweet mix of euphoria and nostalgia. You haven’t felt this in so long and you are not willing to let the moment go any time soon. You want to remain in that moment and be carried away by that breeze forever... Unfortunately you can’t, you find that you are too heavy, bounded to the ground by your sense of reality. Just like that, the photo re-appears in front of you and you find yourself inside the gallery again. You are at a loss for words. There are not enough words that could adequately describe something so indescribable. Words are anchored into reality; symbols are boundless.

#photography #pink floyd #wish you were here #hipgnosis #art #storm thorgeson

[gatheringinspo]

‘Witches’ Flight’ by Francisco Goya

I thought it would be nice to give some insight into what inspired me to begin this blog, a uniquely human experience I find myself in time and time again, an experience caused by a volatile sense of memory. I found this painting by Francisco Goya whilst rummaging through an old folder I forgot about on my hard drive. The folder is simply named ‘Inspirations’, filled with images that were meant to spark something when I would eventually find the time to review them in detail. I have hundreds of images like this across my computer and phone, each one compelled a thought which was so provoking in the moment, yet oddly enough, every time I reviewed the images I never seemed to remember the exact point of why I saved them.

Inspiration is a rare commodity, most of the time dissipating immediately after its moment of conception. In moments of frustration where inspiration stubbornly keeps itself hidden, I can’t help but feel a sense regret that I was unable to hold onto meaningful ideas when they were originally gifted to me. Keeping a record of ideas, pairing personally provoking ones with the source from which they grew - I would say that is the reason why this blog exists. I am hopeful the life of this project ends up being some consolation to me forgetting exactly why I held onto this painting by Goya.

#francisco goya #witches flight #painting