Life is crazy

I’ve said this phrase over and over in the recent months. Life is crazy. By this I mean, it’s unexpected, it’s magical, it’s twisty and sometimes it throws something at you that makes you stop in your tracks and re-evaluate everything.  All this to say I’m happy to announce I’m back in California. After seeing some beautiful places and learning many new things, I’m back in a place that is somehow both familiar and new.

At the half way mark of the year I feel the need to take stock of the good that has happened so far. This year I had my artwork collected by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  I created new images for a grant and exhibition in New York through the En Foco Organization. I visited many new places, the ruins in Copan, Honduras, the hillsides and beaches of El Salvador and I hiked my first volcano. However, what has made the biggest impact on me is the incredible love, generosity and kindness of my friends and family. It is a kindness that has surprised and humbled me over and again.

I have a lot to be grateful for and it feels good to remember that.

What I’ve realized is: just because life is crazy, doesn’t mean it’s not good.

En Foco grant exhibition at Longwood Gallery

New work: Contemplating Loss, 24×24″ Archival Pigment Print

The Ruins in Copan, Honduras

View from the top of Volcano Llamatepec, El Salvador

One day… but for now

I cannot believe it is March. Somehow, the winter passed and the birds are singing again. The trees all have tiny flower buds. I am trying to soak in the seasons, to notice every little change, the feeling of the air, the smells and sounds. In a few months I’ll be relocating to a place where it’s generally 90 degrees year round, I’m not at all complaining but I know it will be different and I’m trying to sear this all into my memory.

In facing some big changes, I’ve been thinking a lot about living in the present. I’ve been thinking about not getting all wrapped up in details but instead walking and enjoying wherever you might be. Not to say that I don’t have dreams of going places and ways to get there but right now I’m very much enjoying the journey.  When I was in my first year of undergrad, I took one of those really broad – can’t even scratch the surface in this amount of time – art history classes. However, while in that dimly lit auditorium with the hum of the slide projector I found two places I knew I had to see one day. One is the Mosque at Córdoba and the other is The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. These two places felt familiar, as if I needed to go back to them and knew that I would see them again.

It’s strange what triggers memory, but I started thinking about Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel on Friday as I looked up at the ceiling of the bar I was in.  It had these painted ceiling tiles that felt like the ceiling of a church/mission/cathedral. It reminded me of the amazing places I have yet to see and at the same time how much I can enjoy where I am right now.

The picture is below is the ceiling, along with some others I have on a tumblr at www.myguardianindian.tumblr.com. I hope you enjoy them, the dreams of places you to go and wherever you might be at this moment.

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