I just received a nice package of 10 copies of the new issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, which includes reproductions of my series Evocations. They have paired my images of bottles, maps, and bodies with an article on the 5th precept of Buddhism – the non-use of intoxicants. I am still not exactly sure how my work connects to the writing, but I like the poetic stretch of having it appear in a new context. Also in this issue is a great article on the Gulf Oil Spill by my neighbor & gardener Wendy Johnson, plus an inspiring piece on “Yoga and Creativity” by Anne Cushman. I love what she says here about writing, which is also applicable to photography:
“I used to believe that writing was a way to create a kind of back up life for myself, to pickle reality in paragraphs for future consumption. I thought I could capture life’s precious, fluttering moments in a net of words. But through yoga – and growing older – I know that writing can’t trump impermanence. What I’ve mounted on the head of my writer’s pin are just cocoons. The actual butterflies have flow away long ago.”
Until today, I had never read Tricycle before. They contacted me out of the blue to ask permission to use my work in this issue. What I love is that my art is exposing me to new ideas – it’s as if the pieces themselves have a life of their own, traveling out into the world and connecting in new ways with words, ideas, and people – giving me back the gift of new experience.