Mexico has left many landscapes in my mind that won’t go away. One is that of driving hours through the desert when, unexpectedly, the nothingness was interrupted by a small village of homes constructed from cardboard boxes. Poverty had not obliterated the need for beauty. The homes had been painted with bright colours and further adorned with planters made from old tires. Suddenly I understood that art is an awareness, an awareness that existence alone is not enough.

 I‘d wanted to stop to take pictures but feared doing so would show a lack of respect. So the only photo I have is that in my mind. It’s there to remind me that, to give my life purpose, all I have to do is make art.

Life is not static. It’s about interrelating with yourself, with others, with the world around you. Sometimes you’re the protagonist, sometimes you’re a spectator. In other words, sometimes you catch, sometimes you throw.

It’s how you interrelate with the world around you that determines the quality of your life. You can sit there and whine about what you don’t have. Or, like the inhabitants of the cardboard village, you can paint your life.

 -30-

(from Luz Corazzini’s NOTEBOOKS ©)