Tibetan Calligrapher - Tashi Mannox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOZN2fTmcakThemes were evoked from my consciousness such as; "integrity, purposeful, meaningful, ingenious, discipline, compassion and dedicated," while I watched this clip. An honesty in the way Tashi Mannox spoke seemed refreshing and personal and the way he showed his engagement with materials; like a meditation, as meditation, made me think a lot about how Experiential Creative Arts Therapies connects people to the age old tradition of making stuff (with one's own hands!!)...making artwork that is meaningful to oneself, even if to no one else.
I have a theory about how our disconnect with the arts has given rise to the emotional imbalances and artificiality in people's lives, the celebration/obsession of the celebrity rather than being a creative oneself.
His work seemed to be constructing a considered bridge between his deeply held ideals and spiritual practice, and those who may not fully embrace his lifestyle, but the onlooker could be enticed to appreciate it in the form of Tashi's aesthetic. His method to embed his inner ideals into the fabric of the work with symbols, colours, textures and intention grabbed my attention, and made me want to hear/see more. The process made me curious and a willing observer, a willing participant of his story. It resonated with my own journey, being an artist and someone with a spiritual lifestyle or lets say an 'aspirant'.
A master is one who can teach the most complicated concepts in simple language to someone inexperienced...
The presentation of Tashi's art works seemed to exemplify this statement. In ECAT terms we could call it an 'essence statement' of how he is with the world. Which is in great contrast to the next clip from the ABC News about a group of women singing a love song- But is it?
Singing the Healing
The second piece no doubt you have seen in the news, but I thought about it in terms of using real stories, & real people to write a song, & the same voices behind the story were used to perform it. Fairly rare in our world...the untrained executing a song for 'love' (& non-profit) and excellently and the reception by the public has been overwhelming.
Concrete moments of lived experience have been encapsulated into this lyrics of the song. Their experience is real, not like others who read about war in an article or see a documentary. Every day is the day when a message of the death of their loved one can come. The stakes are high, and these women have deep commitments to their men.
So what is the story I am looking at, because there are so many angles to look from?
Communication - letters to those loved ones in Afghanistan.
Communication combined into one 'letter' - a song.
Untrained women singing their hearts out - (public) performance art.
The process is giving them an opportunity to explore those feelings, and share their love. Taking the chance to share with others one's love, one's faith in a partner, is a courageous thing, what to speak of sharing it with the world!!
Sharing the complexities of their feelings... its an experience of combined auto-ethnographic documentation and I can benefit from listening to the stories of others, I can reflect on my own life, and love, and the vulnerability of relationships. It certainly challenged my assumptions about a myriad of topics, and this I found fresh and far from a jaded story, something with which to use as a spring board for reflection on the good in the world and singing, together, the notion of renewal in creativity, and the Christmas spirit, which no longer belongs to Jesus, has been transformed into a spirit of giving and receiving love, perhaps in a very humanistic way, but perhaps this is the groundwork of the heralding of a new era...oops way too much thought here.
More on Autoenthographers: from Karen Scott-Hoy, (& Carol Ellis) Wording Pictures, "refers to the process as well as the product of writing about the personal and its relationship to culture. Its an autobiographical genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness", so even though our wives-of-serving soldiers are not researching, as well as writing and performing their song, I think there is much to be drawn culturally from the moment in time. Research could be done.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-20/wives-of-serving-soldiers-launch-album/3739694?section=entertainment
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