What shows
how little
we know?
What can be is
oft far less than
what we expect.
What is now
has never been
what it was.
07/25/2024 j.g.l.
value beyond
Simplicity.
Is there emotion in austerity?
Humanity?
What do you see when attempting
to define your limited visibility?
Minimalism, abstract impressionism
or incorporeal thought.
Less is more, but is it enough?
Texture, tone, and value beyond
your current scene. If you take it to an
extreme, you will question
what it means.
What is really there?
What line do you cross?
Can simplicity be complicated, or
should it even be attempted?
07/23/2024 j.g.l.
Mondays are just young Fridays
Things will not go as planned. Intentions will be disrupted, even overlooked, in the aftermath of an unexpected reality.
Where you are headed will not be the place you end up, undoubtedly or undeniably. No matter how hard you attempt to make each gesture, brushstroke, promise, prayer, or pastime as perfect as you believe it can be, many times you will not arrive at a perceived destination. All too often your endeavors never hit the mark; at times your work may be better than expected (celebrate those moments), but everything (even your judgement) is subjective.
You are not limited to, or by, the colours in your paintbox or progression of your process.
Imagination is as limited or expansive as you want it to be. Give it time to blossom; in certain instances, you may even have to reel it in. This is all about possibilities, no matter which media, method, or style you are beholden to.
You owe your art (or life) nothing but your presence; the value comes from the practice, as rudimentary or spontaneous as it is or will become.
07/22/2024 j.g.l.
I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.
Of Truth And Reconciliation
Posted on September 29, 2021 by j.g.lewis
Leave a comment
Tomorrow is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to recognize the painful past of the relationship between Canada and its first nations people.
A federal statutory holiday created in June under an act of parliament, it is a day to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools and the unfair treatment experienced by indigenous people.
It is a day for those of us non-native Canadians to acknowledge our part, and that of the generations that preceded us. It will be a day of reflection on the lives we have been living and the systemic racism we have lived with.
It hurts to think about it.
How can we deal with the guilt of decisions made before our time?
How can we deal with the outright imbalance of issues that continue to strain this country?
We need only think of the murdered and missing women across this country.
We think of the large number of indigenous communities in this country without safe drinking water.
This is Canada.
We live on stolen land.
And we continue to learn more, and learn of more and more bodies being discovered on the grounds of former government and church-run residential schools. For years the ghosts of these rumours haunted us.
Now we know of the corpses.
These are the lost generations we will think of tomorrow.
How can we speak for those who are unable to speak for themselves?
We need to seriously ask ourselves how we can become a part of the healing process, and how we can leave a better world for those to come.
This is especially difficult since we have already imparted our biases and beliefs onto our own children — either directly or by implication — and society, historically, has enforced our sad shortcomings.
We have not always been the best neighbours. More so, we have sinned or committed sins against those we have not known.
Many of us have not taken the time to know the truths, or their stories.
Some of us have listened to, or studied, the wrongful ways of the past.
For too long, too many of us have viewed our nation’s first people as our country’s first problems, and successive governments have perpetuated this pattern.
How can we become better ancestors?
We can begin today. Tomorrow will not come soon enough.
© 2021 j.g. lewis
