back to Beckett

What my favorite thing was in the whole Beckett exhibit was when he mentioned, in various letters throughout, how the frustration lies in how it is impossible to really explain, to really transmit the true manner of things. Of life, in short.

And he said that's what caught him so much by Cezanne, the indulgence and hint that there are things that cannot be captured--admitting that there is want in the portrayal. You can look at something so beautiful and see it as purely as day, but you can only capture it in such a way.

And that's part of the greatness in photography. It can't get everything, but it's so much stronger than the written word, and rare is it that you find a painter who can make certain situations as vivid.



Source: To Flee or to Stay? Family Chooses Too Late and Pays Dearly

And it's frustrating because you read articles, sitting at your desk nestled in a city that's far removed from the chaos that's consuming lives at right this very moment. And, I think that it's hard to not be overwhelmed at times, to feel completely powerless and small, but it's important to stay out of these moments. To remind yourself that small actions, that living your very own life in a specific manner, and working to do the best in creating globally aware, up-and-coming leaders is also important.

But, to turn full circle, it's photographs as these in the article linked above that crush you because there are no sentences, grammatically nor syntactically perfect, that can capture what needs to be expressed. Photographs can only do so much, dependent upon who views them, and even in some cases, for certain things, it doesn't matter still because people take what they want from the photos: some people become enraged at the photograph, others move to action, lots do neither.