FROZEN IN TIME

It is a truism that the simplest concepts can promote the most complex emotions and thoughts. That less can indeed be more (and become more on top of that) with each passing gaze or contemplation. Such was (is) the case with this particular illustration which, in my own mind’s eye, evolved from a playful act of plausible surrealism to a quasi-philosophical soliloquy on mortality thanks to subsequent acts of reflection. In one instance, I came to see the swimmer as a prisoner of time, bound in a cold stasis of mind, vexed by immovable memories of despair with no escape or remedy (an enviro-temporal “absolute zero” of sorts). At the same time, I derived a sense of joy and immunity on her part as she literally (and figuratively) throws time to the winds, choosing instead to inhabit those enduring spaces and slices of time that lie between the discrete seconds that erode what remains her existence. Thus, she is able to fully bear and experience the critical, memorable, and demanding moments of her life by living within them, unconstrained by second-by-second considerations to do right, wrong, or remain indifferent. The interpretive possibilities here are virtually endless, but time waits for no plan (and no one) and so, I (like you) must be off towards another moment, hoping to remain buoyant and brave in adversity, forward-looking in the past, present, and beyond.