Shoot With The Heart
For those that know me, the arts of cultures around the world are a deep passion of mine. My collection of various art forms and ethnographic pieces crowds my walls. The faded, muted colours of puppets, earth-toned tribal masks, paintings and etchings and sketches stuff wall space and cardboard tubes in storage. Some people buy souvenirs, this is what I use to remember.
To say that the arts were important is an understatement, however despite that, much of these artists are getting old and not able to find replacement artists to follow or learn. Sometimes it is because something else comes along of easier entertainment, like movies. Other times people won’t pay for the months or years it takes to make these things from hand. Plastic manufacturing has replicated these things, or machine looms, or synthetic man-made cloth is fast and cheap. Children, even in far flung destinations want more. They see a bigger world that calls to them with adventure on its breath. “There is no money in it” and “that is what my father or mother does…I have other things” is what you commonly hear.
Generations that did see that these items could be sold to passersby set about finding ways to make them quicker, at times in factories and occasionally out of untreated wood of coloured dyes that bleed.
Rare indeed to find a true to themselves artists and to see them you must search through more and more from those that will never be that. You must be patient and assess, learn and keep going so that you can know what gold looks like when you find it. Experience, your eyes and your fingers will tell you if you are seeing something beyond monetary value.
When you find a wood carving or a carpet that touches you back, A thing that took months or years to make, and you have the means, grab it! If you can’t, then soak it up. Take a seat and watch and appreciate. Chances are you will never see this skill again and when you go back there years later you realize, like cultural details themselves, it has disappeared and a trip to a dusty book in your local library may be the only way to understand the immense beauty and contribution artists have made.