and let it ring
April 2015
Our task as artists is to find spectators for whom the kind of work we create is truly necessary. - Grotowski
When the soul is bruised, no one can see it. Changing colours go unnoticed; waves of pain lapping at internal organs unseen. Careless words slap at the bruises. We bruise again. Trauma that causes capillaries to burst, trapping blood beneath the surface can take a long time to heal.
The unseen and unknowable pain is not easy to understand. It is grief. It is loss. It is anger, helplessness and something else that wanders restlessly in the middle of the night. We make warm milk and pace the shadows, seeking comfort in memories.
It occurs to me that only soul speaks to soul. And I wonder . . . The inimitable language of spirit, taking shape and form in colours on canvas, or splashed across the sky: in danced syllables and sung songs is deep calling to deep. Our art is necessary.
Our openness as soul-beings is necessary. Painful (because of the bruising) . . . but necessary for teaching the soul to sing.
When the heart
Is cut or cracked or broken,
Do not clutch it;
Let the wound lie open.
Let the wind
From the good old sea blow in
To bathe the wound with salt,
And let it sting.
Let a stray dog lick it,
Let a bird lean in the hole and sing,
A simple song like a tiny bell,
And let it ring.
Photography by Tallulah Southby-Osbourne © Remnant Dance 2014, reprinted with permission.