Journeys
Once upon a time I was a member of an international team. I regularly placed my person into the care of American Airlines without a second thought. Crowded planes & airports were routine. The young man in the next seat falling asleep against me was an irritation, but I had no fear of him, or of the thousands of other strangers with whom I came in contact. Being of an age with his grandmother, I simply shook my head, returned to my book, and allowed him to rest. In the morning, Prague, at the weekend, perhaps Budapest, in between a few days in sweet Brno, my home away from home. The world was my oyster - friendly, accessible, one. Today, August of the plague year, 2020, a ten mile trip to my county seat to buy groceries is something to delay as long as possible. Getting on a plane to Denver to visit the daughter I haven’t seen in months, unthinkable. Visiting a cherished and deeply missed friend with a co-morbidity, impossible, even though she is just a few miles away. The world has become vast, remote, and I have become small.
Against the backdrop of my treasured sojourn in Eastern Europe, the raging virus, and the restricted nature of living in a pandemic, I am thinking about journeys. My journey as an artist. My journey through life’s stages as youngster, householder, and now, three-quarters through the most generous life expectancy, emerging elder. My journey as a progenitor of new life, generations of which I will never know. My journey as a partner, failed and successful. My journey as a daughter as I watch my mother grow ever more frail, and I grieve still for my father gone these 39 years. My journey as an earth-bound spirit that must eventually renounce this realm. This collage series was made with these thoughts of journeys hanging in my mind.
TechnicaL Notes:
The photographic images were taken in the Czech Republic in 2013-2014. They represent physical journeys that seem now so out of reach. The old Czechoslovakian stamps are from my childhood stamp collection. They refer to my journey as a human being, dreaming of the wide, wide world, and growing up to experience a great deal of it. The background layer uses pages from Roland Barthe and an old Kodak manual - metaphors for my journey as an artist - and pages from the journal of a Harvard Medical School student from the 1870’s. That last my nod to our continuing human battle against disease.