There is a perverse fullness in loss. Loss propelled me here. It informs my need to make art. It makes space for the unexpected to grow. Atul Gawande’s recent book “Being Mortal” describes “the chasm of perspective between those who have to contend with life’s fragility and those who don’t.” Loss widens our apertures to see farther down narrow, well-worn paths. It opens us to risk, and to more keenly-felt joys.
This week is the year anniversary of Selective Focus’s inception, so next week’s theme will be “editor’s choice” highlighting just some of the work that caught the spirit of what we’ve tried to build here. I’d love to see an actual exhibition of your contributions, and to hear your thoughts on how we might do just that.
5 thoughts on “Selective Focus: Loss”
Thank you Tim for including this image. My widowed mother has advanced dementia. This image was taken in September 2015, when my husband and I had to go back to Kansas and start getting Mom ready to move into a memory care facility here in Duluth. She is confused in this picture and doesn’t understand why some guy is loading up her car. It had been my father’s. He was always a motor head so when he retired he got a Caprice with a Corvette engine and had fun driving it fast and hard. When he died in 2000, Mom made it into a de facto moving altar to him. She lost her license and hadn’t been able to drive for a while but kept the car because she couldn’t bear to part with it. This image is very emotionally charged for me: depicting the loss of my father; Mom’s loss of her husband and my loss of a mother to dementia.
I’m honoured that you shared it here.
That is a beautiful photo, Karen. Also…Dave Sorenson—where is location of your photo?
M.- The concrete ruins are part of the old quarry in Banning State Park. Here’s a hint as to where the other photo was taken.
A Caprice with a Corvette engine. Why didn’t anyone tell me? You add a much needed literary element here Tim, good insight. This week won Selective Focus IMO.