broken
“It is a dying lamp, a falling shower,
A breaking billow: – even whilst we speak
Is it not broken?”
– P.B. Shelley: Adonais
August 15, 2007 in Found Objects, Photoworks by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena Marja-Leena Rathje
on printworks and other passions
by Marja-Leena
“You’re worth more broken.”
–Broken For You, by Stephanie Kallos
http://www.stephaniekallos.com/
How beautiful! And how beautiful to find the beauty in a breakage.
Peter – Interesting quote, and I’ve added the book to my library list, thanks!
Jean – thanks! Not just visual beauty but the sentimental associations to the object (it was made by one of my daughters).
Oh, how sad. I guess it’s an artist who can always find something of beauty even in loss.
Leslee, yes, I felt sad when I accidentally knocked it off the dresser. But the beauty of the pieces made me save them and eventually scan them. If I was into mosaic work, I could use the pieces to make something new, to give it a new life. Instead, I’ve kinda done that with this image…
A wonderful post — Marja-Leena, your actions remind me a bit of the mystical idea of tikkun, the repair and reconnection of the shards that formed when the universe was created/broke free.
From Wikipedia:
“According to the Jewish mystical system known as Lurianic Kabbalah, the creation of the universe by God was unstable, and the early universe, represented figuratively by a glass or pottery vessel, could not contain the holy light of God and shattered into shards. Consequently, according to the Kabbalists, the universe that we know is literally broken and in need of repair.”
Lori – Wow! What an amazing idea, and that this would make you think of it, thank you! Another creation myth, in a way, and new and awesome to me.
By the way , about “literally broken and in need of repair” – I agree, except that the deed was done by humankind, sadly. Wish it was as easy to repair as using some superglue!
A beautiful image with the words. Sad to lose it, I suppose mosaic could be like patchwork, saving fragments of much loved things…
Lori’s Kabbalist thing is fascinating too, like Doris Lessing’s ‘Shikasta’, which I think was from the Persian.
Lucy, thank you. Patchwork, yes, that’s another way to save memories! I must look for that book by Lessing, one I haven’t read of hers.
Beautiful. I try never to “shed tears over spilled milk” – broken things are broken, my mother always said, and you just have to remember they’re merely “things.” But I love the idea of “recycling” them into something new, which this photograph certainly is.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Beth. I think this is the first time I’ve “saved” something that was too broken to repair, because scanning was a great way to do it.
This photograph is marvelous. It looks like you captured the breakage in mid air. Very interesting use of the scanner and very provocative thoughts.
Thanks, Loretta! This has been an interesting project with such great responses from everyone!