A thought suddenly seeped into my mind and it told me that, to have a really good story, I should spend a lot... NOT of money, but a lot of time and thoughts as well.
So I started a little game. I called it “STALKING”. The rules are simple. I just have to stalked a random strangers and extract a life from them. Extract a life to have a good story. A good story to make a legacy for a dying art on the verge of extinction.
The first subject was a man in his late 2o's. Tall and quite dark. He is an engineer. Loves art and photography. Amazed by enigmas and hackers. His extraction began with a simple picture. The life I've extracted from him was in a form of photographs and cameras that taught us that we are NOT supposed to look at it but rather we should look THROUGH it. Life... there is always a story lurking behind. That is why you have to see through it to know it. That is the art of prejudgment... the art of the question – Why there's nothing in this world we are sure of... because being NOT SURE gives us the chance to trust other people and the privilege for us to prove to them that we are trustworthy as well.
The second subject was a kid around 12 years of age. Young blood, innocent eyes... I could see a lot of different kinds of art just looking through his innocent eyes. The extraction began inside a museum. In front of us was a huge aquarium with a jellyfish inside. The guide told us that that creature is very very dangerous. The boy just smiled and exclaimed - “It is very beautiful!”. The life I've extracted from that kid was in a form of beauty and vanity. That jellyfish is beautiful but dangerous... then beauty must mean danger. But to those who have it... it means pain. Those who do not have it, they wanted it, and once they've got it... they say that they are not happy. Those who were born with it feels lucky but they never been happy as well. Oh! Vanity of vanities... beauty is the art of vanity.
I had a hard time looking for my third subject... it took me five days to finally got one... and this time what I've got was a mathematician. The third subject is called the art of measurements... volumes, meters, circumference... whatever! But how? Or can we really measure love? Or do we really have to measure love? Some say it is measured by consistency and constancy, that it can only be proved by eternity. Some say by the depth, that it could be proven by actions. Some say by sacrificing. Some say holding on. Some say letting go... but I DOUBT THEM ALL!!! Love for me is something that can never be measure. We have our own ways of loving and nobody has the right to question your feelings merely based by your actions or decisions in life. I believe in love as perse. It is not intertwined with eternity, or with pain or with happiness. Love is simply is. Eternity is different, pain is another thing and happiness is just a part... and these should not be mistaken as love. When you love and got rejected, it is not the love that caused you pain... it is rejection... so why blame love? When you love and you need to sacrifice... it is the inevitable circumstance that made you sacrifice and not love... so don't blame love for it. When you love and got loved back, your happiness comes from satisfaction and not love as well... and not because you are happy means you are in love... you might just be enjoying.
I believe in love perse. You can be in love forever that even eternity can not endure your love... that is love. You can be in love for just a wink of an eye, and in that moment there is love... yes, there is love and though it did not last forever... it was still love. You can love right, you can love wrong. You can love a moment, you can love long. Some love are proven, some are facts that cannot be proven. But a love that was not proven DOES NOT mean it is not true at all. Love is love whether proven or not, whether expressed or not. Love can never be measure... it is simply is.
The fourth subject was extracted from an ex-convict man. Imprisoned for a crime he was forced to do and now living in the art of white lies. Yes, the art of white lies. He is now out of the jail but still imprisoned by his own past. Denying the facts that haunts him. White lies... bigger lies, lesser guilt. How many lies do we have to say to make it the truth? If your lies become your truth... then the truth is not quite true then. I say, the end never justifies the means but the mean justifies the means. We look at one angle but in different sides... one angle but different views... but it never makes that angle two – right?!
My fifth subject, and its almost a week. This time I'm extracting a life from a young politician. He never really wanted to become one... but his story proved me one thing... that art of patience could change a mind. His patience gave him the reason to expect, worst... his patience made him assume. And as much as patience is concern... patience kept him waiting... waiting for the time until time changed his mind. When we assume, we get hurt. When we expect, we get hurt as well even though we have the reason to expect. So what is left for us is hope. But if hope still hurts us... hope still. We cannot live by hope alone but living without hope is not worth living.
One week...
My sixth subject... this time a life was extracted from a widow. It is called the art of tragedy. What is more beautiful than life? What is more painful than a tragedy? What is more inevitable than death? Mind can never know... heart can never much contain... for death takes away the presence but that DOES NOT mean the absence of love.
Finally the last subject... and I'm extracting my own life. This is the art in me. I remember sometime ago somebody asked me that if I am a thing what thing would I be... and I said I wanted to become a painting displayed on a wall. She laughed at me and told me that I was so pathetic and that I only wanted to become a lowly display. I smiled and told her... “EXACTLY!... because being just a painting displayed on a wall, people will pass by and all will look at me and many would think that I'm just a display, some will admire me, some will criticize me... but when ONE very deep person will pass by, he will look at me and will have a second look because he knows that I am NOT just a display but an ART … a life in every colour... an emotion in every stroke. Might be just one person... but it is enough that someone sees the art in me.”
This work is done from a random sample and if you think you are one of the subject that I have encountered... Thank You!
