searchingtoseeportals and the possibility of hope in a time of despair
I like to look back at photographs I have taken and make connections. Often I will find them, because even though it feels at the time when I am snapping away, that I am being quite random, I have discovered when I later trawl through my images that I am actually quite purposeful and even economical these days when I photograph, tending to hone in on similar themes and subjects. This is, unfortunately the sacrifice of having less and less time to get out and about, I might add, and when I travel it is never with the sole purpose of immersing myself in the art, rather a side line of stolen moments when I have managed to escape family duties. So, my holiday snaps are just that, really, although hopefully something more than that now as experience has trained my eye in what to look for; like a cat I have become quite good at pouncing on opportune moments, with a child hanging off one arm and wielding a bottle of sunscreen in the other. Often I will take a number of pictures of a space or place which is interesting and then work on them later at home to create something I feel I can be proud of, or even sell. Other times it’s a one-off moment, although these days I favour working with layers over anything else, because it gives me freedom and a kind of complex simplicity which seems to be where I am most content in my creativity.
I am teaching English now and when I teach children how to write I try to reveal it as a practice of layering. There is no neatness to writing really; just like art, it is a messy, but wonderful business. Behind that final draft there are layers and layers of crossing out and re-writing, different coloured pens, feedback and comments, where I have asked them to think about things differently, or to dig deeper and find the layers of meaning. I try to show them that writing, just like art, is not an end product as such, but it is a process. A process of becoming. There is no good or great writer for whom the words just magically transpose onto the page. Good writers will cross out, they will edit ferociously; they will be critical of themselves and they will agonise over every single word until they have hit just the right note. Because good writers know that words, and how we put them across, are important; they have resonance. Nowadays, of course, the word processor often erases the visible marks of the editing process, but even when I write an essay now I end up with six or seven drafts before I get to a final version I am happy with, and when the children are writing I think it is important that they see this. It is vital that they understand that neat does not always equal good content. I ask them to take pride in their work and to take time, but I do not obsess over neatness because I feel it is highly overrated. My own handwriting leaves a lot to be desired and spelling might be a challenge, but it does not mean that I cannot be a good writer. We plan and write together on big flipcharts so that they can see for themselves how this process works: I might go back and change a word or phrasing I did not like; I might underline or highlight repeated words and look in a thesaurus for alternatives, or star in another sentence here and there. It’s a thoughtful process of revision and it is important that children see it as such.
Educators like Ken Robinson have been telling us for many years now that creativity is the most important skill we can foster in our children in order to prepare them for a deeply uncertain future. And if this is true, which I believe it is, then neatness is not a part of that. The world we live in today is a mess. It is complex. It is sad, but we must not attempt to simplify things for our children and belittle their intelligence. There is no matter of black or white any more. As I look out on grey, uncertain skies and hear the wrathful winds lash relentlessly at the chimney, I fear that it won’t be long until those old Victorian bricks give away, but most of all I fear that these storms are hear to stay. We must allow our children to see this whipped up mess that we have created and give them hope that they can navigate the storms more successfully than us. For this is imperative. The world may be a mess; it may be a hopeless shade of grey, but it is a glorious mess.
And now I find, once again, that meandering words have taken me in a direction I did not intend to go on this stormy morning. These are words I did not intend to write, but somehow they have been written. What I wanted to write about were portals, magic and mystery. My two children are endlessly preoccupied with science fiction and other fantastical stories about magical worlds. From Star Wars to Harry Potter, to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, it seems the battle is always the same: the age old dichotomy of good versus evil (although of course the details vary wonderfully). There is great comfort in these stories too, for them, because, although they usually begin with feet planted firmly in reality, they quickly move into a different realm where fantasies can be played out and indulged in a grand scale, and of course, the children know that good will always overcome evil. This is even more important for them now that they realise that real life is not like this. Our children need great stories like this which provide them with refuge from the grey fog of daily life. As do we, I think.
Often these stories contain some kind of magic portal or entrance which allows humans to access the ‘other world’, like the twister which snatches up Dorothy’s house and dumps it in the glorious, technicolour Oz; the great old wooden wardrobe which houses those wonderfully evocative fur coats through which Edmund, Peter and Lucy fumble to reach the winter wonderland of Narnia; the platform 9 3/4 which boards Harry on his train to Hogwarts; or the famous rabbit hole (and later mirror) which transports Alice to Wonderland. Sometimes they are actual doors or gateways, like the wardrobe, or the door in Monster’s Inc. which allows the monsters to enter children’s bedrooms, but other times they can be a small object, like the magic key which transports Biff and Chip into different time period in the famous phonic adventure stories which those in the UK with young school age children will know and love. These portals or thresholds which provide passage from one world to another are important features of stories like this, because they are physical symbols of transformation and transgression, but also because they allow us humans the possibility of fantasy and of something else wonderful – of hope.
Without realising, I frequently photograph ‘portals’ – usually doors and windows, and I think many photographers do likewise. They are endlessly fascinating, so saturated with symbolic meaning, as well as being visually intriguing. And so my wordy saunter brings me back (not too neatly I hope) to my photographs and travels. This summer I was lucky enough to visit Brazil with my family, a country rich with cultural diversity and with a sheer expanse beyond my capacity of conception. It was not my first visit, and for the second time I was captivated by the dazzling natural beauty of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the impressive mountainous landscape of the countryside dotted with dusty little villages where locals sit on their doorsteps and lazily watch the world go by. Then there are the more touristy, but charming colourful seaside towns along the North East coast. I encountered many appealing doors, windows, and other less traditional gateways on our travels and have many tales I could tell, but looking back at them now makes me wonder about the prospect of exciting adventures to be had beyond the threshold of these portals, and the possibility of stories untold.
Without possibility, there is no hope.
© images and words by Emily Hughes, 2015
searchingtosee 
lovely words and photographs. For a ‘holiday snapshots’ person you sure do capture some great moments. You made me think about what I like to focus on as well, and I am like you – doors fascinate me, in fact I have to stop myself from taking them too often. But mainly my focus is on distant hills and roads ahead, and they are a source of hope as well. Thank you
Yes I would agree! Winding roads especially are fascinating. Thank you for your lovely words, Maureen and best wishes for the new year.
Beautiful pictures. Best wishes for a happy new year.
thank you Shimon – best wishes to you too.
This is a wonderful collection of photographs. Your search for sight seems to be working very well! Happy New Year!
Thank you! And best wishes for the year ahead.
Lovely. Happy New Year, Emily!
Happy New Year, Richard!
Beautiful, Emily. Best for 2016.
And to you!
My favorite image here is the door with the cat mosaic in the corner.
It’s really essential that everyone understand that creative work takes WORK. In an era of instant technological gratification, there’s a fantasy it’s done as soon as (and as mindlessly as) you hit send or publish or click a button. The early days of working with film and darkrooms, let alone paper and typewriters!, gave us oldies a very different sense of what makes a finished image.
So true! Technology makes the process easier maybe, but at the end of the day it’s still just you and a blank page. I worry so much about children in my class who think that fame and money is easy to achieve. They aspire to being you tubers and vloggers or tell me they want to be a photographer but they have never picked up a camera. Mostly they want for nothing, thankfully, but they are not being taught that you have to work damn hard to get to where you want to in life and be successful. I tell my children that all the time and they see how hard I work at my job and I think that’s good for them. Too many people think that they deserve something for nothing. Aspirations and dreams are important and admirable, but effort is everything, boring as it may be, and that is what I praise.
Exactly. I taught writing at a very expensive private US college last year — and did not enjoy many of the students who could not be bothered to read (!) and emerged from high school having been lavishly praised by their small-town teachers as God’s gift to literature. I found their laziness exasperating and expressed that — hence, no more job there! Not missing it and now doing private coaching and teaching professional designers through adult education at another NYC school. They WANT to learn and know what it takes. That’s the student I relate to (sadly) much better.
yes I can understand that! I am working with a lot of special needs students at the moment, dyslexic children who have brilliant ideas but cannot get them down on paper – that is tough but fascinating and rewarding. I plan to do private coaching when I finish my training.
I admire your patience!
Ha! My mentor says that to me too 🙂
Beautiful photos!
Thank you so much, and thanks for visiting!