PhotoDude.com

Mon. Sep 17, 2001

Reclamation

Reclamation – Among the many dilemmas in our country today, this one might seem somewhat trivial. The 5,000 or more that are dead, and the difficult tasks ahead for this country have got to be the focus. But getting past this is also a very individual process, and for those with a creative mindset, it’s been very tough. As James Woods explains, “Artists try to experience life and then through aesthetic means turn those experiences into feelings. How they will try to understand these events, among the most horrendous I’ve ever seen, I have no idea.”

Nor do I. Or many other creative people who’ve felt silenced by these events. It’s very hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it, but I’ll let Silvano Arieti give it a shot: “The creative person finds himself in a state of turmoil, restlessness, emptiness, and unbearable frustration unless he expresses his inner life in some creative way.”

Given the imagery that has fueled the past week, the “turmoil, restlessness, emptiness, and unbearable frustration” has been overwhelming for me, and many others. It may seem like wimpy artistic whining to some, given the reality of what others face today, but it has been mentally crippling for a lot of people. So I offer an invitation, if you’ve felt creatively silenced by these horrors: come join the discussion at PixelPile.org about this topic, and maybe together we can help move past this place, creatively, and therefore, emotionally.