I watched a television documentary in the library today, when I was feeling too ill to do much else. It was entitled simply "The Human Camera", which of course immediately caught my attention.
As it turned out, it was not about some experimental interior photographic art, but a man named Stephen Wiltshire, who is an autistic savant with the incredible gift of not only being able to study and memorize scenes-architecture specifically, but then render them almost photographically accurately.
However, it is not this gift alone that I found so awe inspiring. It is the fact that art, and the passion he had for making art from the age of 4-5 has given him a life that is full, fulfilling, and dynamic, and it has transformed who he is. This is the beautiful thing about art: it not only gives one opportunities to express oneself, it truly has the ability to be therapeutic, to rehabilitate, to bring us back into the wider world when we may have been locked in our own. It may be strange to think about it that way right now in art school, where it seems like everyone is necessarily in their own little world, at work, most of the time.
But when we do step back and then engage with others, how open it is! One's moments of intense introspection give way to a flood of new ideas once in discussion or collaboration with others.
Anyway, I can't think of much more to say on the program, other than that it made me cry. Human perseverance and the healing power of art, what more can I say?
Stephen Wiltshire has a gallery in London, and his website is HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment