Ruth Phillips has a lovely rumination today on the nature of art:
In art I believe the same form appears over and over again because art, surely, mirrors life. (I also believe the form’s presence is felt through it’s absence but that is a whole other subject!): The tension of home (The Base) – Moving away from home (The Journey) – Going back home (The Transformation). Add or detract to this shape the ingredients which go to mould the authorial voice:
Architecture, Climate, Ceremony, Time, Nature, Religion, Education, Diet, Animals…..
And ponder ‘The Voice’ as it is used in day to day life (giving sermons, whispering confession, singing in protest, communicating across valleys, gathering herds, sending to sleep, proclaiming love, healing, entertaining, distracting, celebrating…)
…and perhaps it is just possible that, across the seas, the forests and the deserts from each other, there might be two Romeo and Juliet stories, two folk tunes, two buildings, two painted skies that are, in their essence, ‘the same’. It is also possible that, because of their context and their authorial voice, they feel very different.
I loved the closing paragraph, too, but I won’t spoil it for you :)