Özlem Özkan
Unseen presence
Updated: Mar 8, 2021
20210307
Years ago I made an artwork, which got lost when moving from country to country. While the artwork I could see and touch was gone and unseen to me, I still felt what the artwork meant to me. The artwork was made with black, red, and silver acrylic paints. The black and silver were on the background and in red I wrote a text which resonated with me: “The best things in life are unseen, that’s why we close our eyes when we kiss and dream.”
The text still resonates with me, but this time in a different way.
How often did you find yourself thinking, analyzing, and trying to understand? Let’s keep it simple. You walk in the forest and see a tree, which is different from what you used to see and you label it as ‘This is a super cool tree’ or ‘What a weird tree’ or ‘I never saw a tree like this’ or name it. You think, analyze and try to understand.
What about the essence of that tree? Did you get it by thinking, analyzing, understanding it? Most probably not. Before you get dizzy from what you just read, how about stopping to think, analyze, and understand?
Perhaps, all that is essential in life is invisible to the eye, but can only be felt by feeling the presence. When being with the tree, with your child, with your friend, with an animal, with your partner.
And maybe then you will be filled with the deep, powerful presence of life.