Listening to Art
"Perhaps one of the most precious and powerful
gifts we can give another person is to really listen to them,
to listen with quiet, fascinated attention,
with our whole being, fully present."- Kay Lindahl
I've been thinking a lot about listening lately.
Art listens to our hearts - and invites us to listen there too.
If we did, what might we discover?
…
Art listens
holds quiet remembrance
a gentle companion
through the beauty
and brokenness
of our lives.
Back and forth
all around
between jagged edges,
the brush listens
so present
attentive
barely noticing
the colors
moving
in its wake.
How we long to be heard
held
this way
What a gift we can offer
to our world
to each other
to ourselves.
…
Pictured: Tabiji 22, Tabiji 23, and Tabiji 24
Tabiji (tah-bee-gee) means “journey through” in Japanese.
The Japanese art form of kintsugi repairs broken pottery with gold, highlighting the breaks instead of hiding them. The Tabiji Eggshells speak of the time before kintsugi - when we don't know if there will ever be repair. We can listen into these places. They offer hope, and beauty held right in the middle of all the brokenness and all that unknowing. All the way through to the other side.