art

li qingzhao

The lotus has wilted, only a faint perfume remains;

On the bamboo mat there’s a touch of autumn chill.

Softly I take off my silk dress

And step on board my orchid skiff alone.

Who is sending me the letter of brocade

From beyond the clouds?

When the wild geese return**

The moon will be flooding the West Chamber.

Flowers fall and drift away,

Water glides on,

After their nature.

Our yearning is the sort

Both sides far apart endure–

A melancholy feeling there there’s no resisting.

As soon as it leaves the eyebrows

It surges up in the breast*.

*cited: Ci-pomes of Li Qingzhao: A New English Translation, Sino-platonic Papers. No 13, October, 1989

**Wild geese were thought to be bearers of letters, especially love messages, because of their regular migrations from north to south and vice versa.

lens-artist: setting a mood

Looking backward … I cannot see the ancients days. Looking forward … I cannot see ages yet to come. Only heaven and earth have remained, and will remain forever … I am alone, I grieve, I drop tears into the dust. ~Chen Tzu-ang*

Images that speak of solitary … alone … by one’s self evoke feelings of contemplative sadness.

winterwalk

Leya has extended a lens-artists challenge: setting a mood

*cited: Translator: Anonymous. The Project Gutenberg Ebook of the Jade Flute, by Various

wow…words of wisdom

Even in Kyoto-

hearing the cuckoo’s cry-

I long for Kyoto. ~Bushō

“Solastalgia conveys the distressing homesickness we experience without leaving home, when home has altered beyond recognition, such as when seeing a familiar and beloved environment that has been destroyed by drought, fire or flood, by the extremes of climate change.”

cited: Dharma Talk bySensei Deirdre Eisho Peterson – Red Rocks Zen Circle

Note: “Solastalgia” was coined by a contemporary Australian environmental philosopher named Glenn Albrecht, and it is a word that comes out of the climate crisis.  This word solastalgia combines the words solace, desolation and nostalgia.

Paula’s Lost in Translation Words of Wisdom

lens-artists: common object

Ritva Sillanmäki invites an exploration of “Taking the mundane and shining a different light on it. Highlighting an object or scene that we normally pass by without notice, and making it something special. This process allows us to appreciate the beauty and significance of everyday things that often go overlooked. By giving attention to these ordinary elements, we can find inspiration and joy in the simple moments of life”.

I once read that a photograph of a peanut taken at a distance is just an image of a peanut. A photograph of a peanut that fills the image space is art.