If Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, Art is Inspiration in the Thoughts of the Observer.
The wonder and majesty of art comes from its universal ability to provoke a reaction; whether it be scoffing incredulity, reflective self-examination, offended anger or a wondering reverie, art makes us react and we find a reflection of who we are in that reaction.
In search of inspiration I often find myself turning to art, especially when depression rears its ugly head and my mood sinks into the mire. When I'm drained of the will to create and inspired only to emptiness. It’s at these times, that I need an outward reflection of someone else’s muse, a coloured canvas to help populate my thoughts and find wonder in the dying light. It is the act of self-reflection in observing art that forces me to deal with the depressive feelings and walk through the flames, emerging, like the Phoenix, burnt but re-born.
Sometimes, the results can be quite dark but it is in exorcising these demons, this inability to see anything but the negative in life, that I find some surcease. It’s through holding up a mirror, that I finally see that the reflection is skewed and gain some perspective. Everyone is different, but I can’t come to this level of realisation and healing simply through thought or conversation. I wish I could.
It was with this in mind that I took a day-trip to Crosby beach in my hometown of Liverpool. The beach is the permanent home of an art exhibition of epic proportions. As you crest the dunes, rows of figures stretch into the distance, standing forlorn, looking out to sea. Sentinel against the tide, they remind me of the permanence of nature’s advance, like King Canute hailing the tide to halt its progress before bearing witness to its inexorable advance and proclaiming – 'Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but he whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.' 1
This example holds true in the battle with depression. It is pointless to try and hold back the tides, the only way to get used to the power of these feelings is to work through them and try to remember the lessons you have learned for the next time. With clinical depression, it isn’t a case of getting well, it’s a case of learning the motion of the tides.
‘Another Place’ by Antony Gormely is a sculpture installment which consists of cast iron figures facing out to sea, spread over a 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of the beach between Waterloo and Blundellsands. Each figure is 189 cm tall (nearly 6 feet 2½ inches) and weighs around 650 kg (over 1400 lb). In common with most of Gormley's work, the figures are cast replicas of his own body. As the tides ebb and flow, the figures are, respectively, revealed and submerged by the sea. 2
The installation encapsulates the essence of its title, transforming this formally innocuous stretch of the Sefton coast into a statement, a reflection of man vs nature. It has a transformative effect in how the figures interact with the flat sand-scape of the Sefton coast. Interpretation of art is very personal, but in my mind, the essence of the 'Gormleys' is that of a yearning for permanence. As the statues break up the sea and sky, this creates a change in perspective.
The statues stare out to the relatively untamed tidal confluence of the Mersey bay and if you look in two directions on Crosby beach, you will be greeted by very different sights. When facing out to sea, if you look left you will see the constructs of Liverpool's dockland; industry imprinted on the landscape in grey towers of concrete leaning over the sands. To the right, the beach stretches endlessly to the horizon, with a smattering of dunes in the distance hailing the wilds' of the nature reserve at Formby. One thing remains in common with these two conflicting views, the metal statues march into the distance and out to sea. It's this expression of humankind's progress, suspended between the industrial and the natural which strikes me most about the installation.
Perspective to Change the Mental Mind-Scape.
Crosby beach as a whole provides a wonderful juxtaposition of perspective and is an amazing place for a photographer to exercise their creativity.
This playing with perspective is a big part of how I use art to help transform my negative mind-scape. Finding these shots is a lot like play. A child will play on their own to learn about the world and with other children to build friendships. None of this is conscious, but it is a skill that some of us lose as adults, an essential tool for effecting change.
This visual play with perspective bridges the gap between whatever is broken in the synaptic bridge that makes associations in my mind. Depression has been with me for over 15 years of my life, I have tried anti-depressants with extremely negative consequences, undertaken CBT and traditional counselling, one thing has remained constant throughout these experiences. Tackling clinical depression is a constant battle to build the distinction between my perception of the world and reality. Constantly reaffirming that distinction through some type of external example is the only mechanism I have found that works.
The programming of the depressive subconscious has been built on layers of skewed perceptions, over many years, often strengthened by negative experiences. Through observation of something external, I find that I gain some perspective and project these ingrained thought patterns outside of myself for a time. This allows for an objective study of these perceptions without holding on to them, without seeing them as a part of me that cannot change.
For example, the picture above and to the right is of a pipeline stretching out into the Mersey bay. On one side, the wash of the tide has covered the sand with a thin layer of water creating a glassy mirror-like quality. On the other side, the sand of the beach has been built higher through the action of the tide mounding sediment against the pipe. You can actually walk down the beach for miles and the tide comes in on the right-hand side of that picture 10-15 minutes later due to the discrepancy in the action of erosion. Baring in mind this pipeline was only installed around 100 years ago. This picture and the effect of observing this anomaly of the tides gives me a powerful metaphor to work with. It's almost like an external reflection of the different perceptions my mind will swing to when depressed or not. Sometimes on a daily basis, which is very hard to deal with and maintain any sort of productive lifestyle. In recognizing this switch, this change in perspective based on external forces, in my case being memories of experiences I went through in adolescence, it is possible for me to flip the switch in my mind from my obsessive rumination ruling me, to me being able to work through them with some separation.
The poem below was written while at Crosby and clearly shows the effects of negative self-talk. Looking at these pictures now, I don't see the Gormley statues in this light. The poem is a clear personification of the internal thoughts and feelings that had taken me over at the time. In therapy, the patient is encouraged to work through feelings to understand them and I find it no different with approaching healing through personal development in a creative way. Cathartic poetry can be just that, and when deeply personal is sometimes best kept in the notebook for personal contemplation, but often the raw emotion can be crafted into something with depth, which is how I feel about this poem. For me, this personification shows how deeply frustrating and mentally draining the constant battle with mental health issues can be. Writing it helped me exorcise those feelings, let go of them and move forward constructively.
by the tides tithe.
Cradled by the lull
Of screeching gulls
Emptied out like shells
only to be drowned.
Periodically renewed,
diminished, swallowed
in sea-spray, swaddled
In rusty mental breakdown.
A calcified expression of conflict
Dreaming of the scrapyard.
A final resting place.
References:
1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_tide
2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Place_(sculpture)
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