creative forces

Blog # 75…November 2017

There’s a weird disconnect in the air these days…on the one hand, confessionals where people’s dirty laundry is spread out in full view and on the other, glorious pics ( often photo shopped) of svelte and gorgeous  characters eating delicious meals in fabulous settings.  Neither is anywhere near where most of us live. One minute we seem to be more tolerant of deviance from what used to be thought of as the norm and less so the next. Exposure of men in power and their exploitation of women continues to be a daily feature in the news. We’re caught up in fantasy and immersed in reality at the same time.

So, life is remarkable and full of contradictions, what else is new. I just heard Scott Kelly talk about his book Endurance  where he recounts growing up with his twin brother Mark as distractible, mischievous little demons, not much good at school. Both boys went on to be astronauts: Scott commanded the International Space Station on three expeditions; Mark, who served on many missions also, is the husband of Gabrielle Giffords, former US Congresswoman who was shot in 2011.  Both Kellys have written books and actively advocate for gun control. Not bad for kids who were unremarkable and probably drove their parents nuts.

I was also struck recently by hearing artist Kanika Gupta talk about her difficult recovery from a concussion.  In the hours that stretched to days, then weeks and months when she was unable to do much more than lie still in a dark room, she had a lot of thinking time.  Her show ReThink Recovery opened recently at Lakeshore Arts in Etobicoke (a neighbourhood to the west of downtown Toronto). Kanita’s practice includes painting, ceramics, photography, printmaking and illustrations. She uses visual arts, and storytelling to expand understanding of the healing process and those who find themselves “on the fringes of normalcy”. In her workshops she uses a variety of art forms to explore what recovery means and alternative ways of being.

An example of Kanita’s visual challenge to cultural and medical assumptions about recovery is a ceramic piece, broken and then reassembled.  Not as it was but interesting in a unique way.   She questions our notions of health, beauty, wholeness and worth, and establishes a new set of values that are more inclusive and embody what it means to be human.

Sometimes I despair of where the world is going and wonder if we’re really moving forward or backward since we started walking upright…then I come across something about the Kelly twins or Kanita Gupta and  feel more hopeful. I'm also touched by the pluckiness of our Iraqi family and.appreciate the many very good dudes I know.  So find your own sunny ways to get through dark November and so long for now.