Everything visible, no matter how
familiar and ordinary, can suddenly seem miraculous
when the eyes and consciousness home in and absorb a
scene, drinking it in like a bee feasting on nectar.
Astonishment - better expressed in French as emerveillement (making
marvellous) is the key to creativity and
maybe even to eternal youth. Forever amazed - that's
my motto and goal.
The movie option on my
new camera gives me a perfect tool for
recording random glimpses of activity that delight
me by their rhythms and patterns. Here is a video-collage,
combining the rain walkers in Trafalgar Square, a street
performer below the National Gallery, and a magic instant
in Salisbury Cathedral a few days ago.
I had a dental appointment in Salisbury
last Thursday - why, you may well ask, make an
hour and a half train journey to a dentist in another
town when there are so many dentists in London? The
reason is too boringly dentally technical to go into
but anyway, I've never been to Salisbury. So, after my
dentist appointment, I wandered through the charming
town, ending up at the deservedly famous
cathedral. Its serene
majesty is enhanced by the tranquil bucolic surroundings
in which it stands. The giant spire (123 metres/404
feet) is like an arrow straining to
break free from the ground and zoom up to the stars.
Astonishing to me were the
contemporary figures by Sean
Henry unexpectedly scattered outside
and inside the cathedral. This is a temporary event
titled Conflux, a
union of the sacred and the anonymous. I didn't
know anything about his work and was impressed with
it, although the shiny plasticky varnish that most
of the sculptures are coated with is offputting.
I took a few photos but there are better ones here.
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