I was struck by the poignant post from one of my favourite bloggers Lobster and Swan yesterday urging us to stop, watch and listen to what's around us. Just as children who are full of life and curiosity we should learn to find time in our hectic lives to appreciate our surroundings. Spring, when mother nature awakens from its long Winter sleep is a perfect time to absorb the world that surrounds our daily lives.
Hot on the heels of Lobster and Swan's five ways to heighten your senses, I looked at Facebook this morning to find the husband had posted a video which moved me to tears. It was shot by the French Installation and Conceptual artist Sophie Calle, who filmed a series of shorts, together with photographs, conveying the reactions of 15 people from Istanbul who were seeing the sea for the very first time. Simply named 'Voir La Mer' translated as 'To see the Sea', this is one of the most moving shorts I've seen. We take the sea, the countryside all for granted, well those of us privileged enough to be able to travel. We forget that there's many a person across the world that will never leave their hometown, never have need of a passport, will never get on an airplane. To those of us that think nothing of jumping on a plane for a long weekend or even getting in the car for a day trip, it doesn't even cross our minds that something as simple as seeing the sea, breathing in it's magical salt air is not a reality for so many.
Watching this film again and again today, reminded me to appreciate all that I have and be forever grateful of the opportunities that have come my way. In future I shall attempt to not take anything for granted, I shall probably fail at times but if I do I'll recall Voir La Mer and take a step back to recall...
Voir la Me2011. © 2015 Sophie Calle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy of Sophie Calle and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Hot on the heels of Lobster and Swan's five ways to heighten your senses, I looked at Facebook this morning to find the husband had posted a video which moved me to tears. It was shot by the French Installation and Conceptual artist Sophie Calle, who filmed a series of shorts, together with photographs, conveying the reactions of 15 people from Istanbul who were seeing the sea for the very first time. Simply named 'Voir La Mer' translated as 'To see the Sea', this is one of the most moving shorts I've seen. We take the sea, the countryside all for granted, well those of us privileged enough to be able to travel. We forget that there's many a person across the world that will never leave their hometown, never have need of a passport, will never get on an airplane. To those of us that think nothing of jumping on a plane for a long weekend or even getting in the car for a day trip, it doesn't even cross our minds that something as simple as seeing the sea, breathing in it's magical salt air is not a reality for so many.
Watching this film again and again today, reminded me to appreciate all that I have and be forever grateful of the opportunities that have come my way. In future I shall attempt to not take anything for granted, I shall probably fail at times but if I do I'll recall Voir La Mer and take a step back to recall...
Voir la Me2011. © 2015 Sophie Calle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy of Sophie Calle and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
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