Isn’t art an exploration at the edge of knowledge?
Do art and science meet at that edge?
An edge where all circuits of the mind blend into bind experience, knowledge and dreams?
Should we all have room in us to adventure ourselves in this land?
Can fear, shame, guilt, cultural and social restrictions or even life choices inhibits us from doing so?
Nothing like true stories to make us wonder:
One day, before we had cell phones, an orthopedic surgeon was at a picnic with his hospital staff. Just when a storm was arriving he went to a telephone booth to make a call. As a lightning hit the booth, the doctor had a cardiac arrest but he was lucky to survive with the help of from the handy expert colleagues.
What was remarkable about this story was that after the recovery period this doctor who once had only enjoyed music in a very casual manner became a serious composer and a gifted performer. Incidentally he also divorced his wife. (1)
What did that electrical shock do to the doctor’s brain? We all wonder…
But we do not need a radical shock like this one to discover our hidden potentials.
Life’s choices and routines, often imposed on us by need, culture and chance select the use of some of our brain areas to the detriment of others. But life also has its major changes that can open the space, time and consciousness to other dimensions of our being.
More aware of how our mind can shift the connections inside our brain we can now become more conscious of our potentials and live fuller lives with deeper meaning.
This is the case of FakhrI Fayyaz born in Mashad, Iran, in 1922. When she became a widow and living far from her country she decided to dedicate her time to the development of an artistic self that had been dormant since the times she had committed her life to be a wife and raise her seven children.
In this video we sample some of her most recent work. Full of vibrant colors and multiple layers of references, Fakhri has a modern artistic expression despite her beautiful 91 years.
(1) Oliver Sacks, A Neurologist’s Note book, “ A Bolt from the Blue”, The New Yorker, July 23, 2007, p.38.
Minnie Freudenthal
Junho, 2013
Fotos de Saeed Radjai e Shadapari Radjai
