On the Ethics of Sightseeing by Rebecca Solnit
Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That's where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.
I really enjoyed this reading. The writing is captivating, but more so the content is relevant- to myself as an artist, a human being, a daughter, friend, employee and girlfriend, and my personal self.
I am going to pull a few lines from the text, and they may be taken a bit out of context, but I find my mind following various paths while reading them/it.
The first quote (in italics above) I still can't decide what to make of it. It feels important to me though somehow, so I decided to share it- and hopefully will be able to share my thoughts once I know what it is I want to say about it.
“How will you go about finding the thing that nature of which is totally unknown to you?” - Meno(?)
The things we want are transformative, and we don't know, or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation. Love, wisdom, grace, inspiration- how do you go about finding these things that are in some ways about extending the boundaries of the self into unknown territory, about becoming someone else?
This is where my mind starts reeling. I have been in a stagnant state for the past few years- stuck between that world of teenage drama and the world of responsibility. This is shameful for me to admit. I am 24 and still resist every bit of responsibility that I am given for some reason. Fear overwhelms me at - what? failure? success? and then failure to continue to succeed? I am not sure. All I know is that I am sort of trapped- like a moth as it waits for those final days of in its chrysalis, feeling ready to shed its shell, but not quite yet.
When do you know that that change is complete? When does that signal come for you to move forward out of static-ness and into full bodied transformation? Maybe you just have to take a leap of faith. And if you fall you pick yourself back up.
It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophecies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it is where their work comes from, although it's arrival signals the beginning of the long disciplined process of making it their own.
But they transform the known into the known, haul it in like fishermen; artists get you into that dark sea.
I agree with this statement but also disagree. I am finding this in the work that I have been doing lately.
Yes artists draw attention to the unknown, but I think the idea that they give answers to the unknown, bring light to the darkness etc is not necessarily true.
I think the beauty of the world, and of art, is that everything is subjective. There is no real answer to anything. Even science is still just theories- which even if they are tested and true are based on other theories that we made. If something were to change along the chain of events that causes something to occur, the answer changes as well, and when compared to other results become then a non-answer.
I think that unravelling the unknown and giving "answers' to questions does nothing more than invite more questions- which I love. If anything I believe that an artists job is not to bring about answers but to experiment, observe and drive out more questions. We search without knowing what it is we search for, in a never ending cycle of searching which in itself is art.
OF course if the passage means that artists give answers as in they give people a broader range of perspectives (which can be answers as they become a fleshed out narrative rather than a view with blinders) then yes. Yes we do that.
Thinking about the rest of the article, I feel as though perhaps the writer puts to much of idyllic view to the idea of getting literally lost.
On the one hand getting lost in a place can be invigorating and inspiring- you get a rush such as that adrenaline junkies get at the discomfort of the realization of where you are. But with that comes fear.
I feel like theres this sort of sense of "free-spirited-ness" that comes with the idea of getting lost.
It actually makes me think of this film, where the main character renounces his wealth, possessions and connections to family and friends and decided to live "off the grid". I hated this film. I saw the character as being selfish for rejecting his family- he left without telling anyone what he was doing- and although he made many friends along his journeys (some of whom he was more loyal to than to his family) he decided to move on and continue with his new existence like his old life never existed.
In the end the character dies because he has no idea how to survive in the wilderness on his own.
This is where I feel tourists get into trouble when they are travelling- there is this feeling of safety when you are travelling anywhere that although the culture maybe different- if similar structure exist- buildings, cities, governments etc. you feel that you can act as though you would in your own home.
An example of this was when I saw a group of Japanese tourists trying to get as close as they possibly could to an mother moose with her two babies along the highway in BC. If you know anything about Canada is that there is lots of wildlife, and a lot of unpopulated forested areas where wild animals live. If you know anything about moose you will know they are extremely aggressive, huge and dangerous especially when it comes to protecting their young. What the tourist probably thought were "oh these beautiful animals they're so cute and cuddly looking" what we were thinking was "oh god please don't let those animals charge at them."
I think this ties into the how people (myself included) struggle with being able to admit when they don't know something. It is ok not to know, but it is not ok to not know and not try to learn more about what it is you don't know about.
