Sometimes getting lost is the way to be found. I discovered that this week during our travel
week to Italy. I felt like I was in a
dream, walking through the streets of Florence and Venice, eating my weight in
pizza and gelato, and watching the most stunning sunsets I’ve ever seen. While exploring Venice, we got lost, and
ended up finding a random art museum. The
exhibit was called “Man as bird: images of journey” and it played with the idea
of digital media and seeing things from a bird’s perspective. One of the rooms showed a video of various
scenes that looked like the viewer was flying over cliffs, and others close up
of things, like ocean waves coming up onto the sand. We were all laying looking up at the screen,
watching the same video, but seeing it at different angles, which changed our
perspective of how we saw the video.
In another room, we watched a 15-minute video of scenes from
a forest, with relaxing music playing in the background. The scenes of the forest included a variety
of close-up foliage, brilliant greens, and softly flowing streams. At the end, the video zoomed out of the
forest, to reveal that the forest was just inside a small grove of trees, and
surrounding it were fields and other trees.
I was left completely mesmerized.
It wasn’t just the peaceful music, or the captivatingly beautiful scenes
of the forest. It was the idea that so
much beauty can be found when we take the time to look. And it takes new perspectives for us to
really see. Looking up close. Looking from far away. Looking where no one else is. Taking a moment to sit in peace and
appreciate beauty from a distinct perspective brought a sense of calm that I
didn’t know I needed.
Back in the first week of class, we read a few short stories
by Leslie Norris. A strong recurring
motif in these stories is birds. Before,
I didn’t grasp the importance of the birds like I do now. In the story “Prey” the narrator describes: “hawks
hang on a rope of nigh air above the scurrying traffic… I know just where the
favoured vantage points are on that highway.
Often the birds… keep unceasing watching above a crossroads or an
intersection… I know why the hawks watch there.” How did the narrator know the
hawks’ motives for watching prey from their vantage point? I think he knew it
was important for them to be where they could see clearly.
In Florence, we climbed up Giotto’s bell tower to the top of
the most beautiful view of Florence I could ever imagine. Seeing from a bird’s eye view puts things
into perspective. Similarly, up a tower
in St. Mark’s Square was a breathtaking view of all of Venice. I felt like I could see clearly why these
cities held the charm they did, and experiencing those views made me feel like
I was truly living.
Though the story “Prey” focuses on the nature of predator
birds, I wish to make the connection between birds in general and people. “Man as bird” is a concept that I took away
from not just the museum, or just from Italy, but from all of my travels so
far. Getting to see views from up high,
from a different perspective than what we normally see every day, is powerful.
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