TAKE 12 June Collaboration - COURAGE
The TAKE 12 Project is a twelve month journey, we do this together, we were never created to "do alone". It is a commitment to ourselves and our readers to grow, to be truthful, to be transparent, to always know who we are and stay grounded, to journey with LOVE and to trust that we will be transformed.
Read more about TAKE 12 My here -
http://www.desireehartslief.co.za/blog/162-take-12-may-collaboration-connected
WHAT AM I DOING . . .
Words are fascinating, because with one word you are able to tell many different stories, words wear many different painted faces, evoking different emotions and facing different issues every single time. Words take on personalities, great for the voices in your head because you allow each voice to feel a sense of normality then. Yes this might all sound very strange to some of you, especially the people who have no voices in their head . . . words having painted faces, voices having feelings . . . yes this is where you would send me to the looney bin, but . . . The point I am trying to make is that a word can carry a different meaning for you at different stages of your life.
WHAT AM I DOING . . . is a particular string of words that change meaning like a chameleon walking on one of Kadinsky`s painted canvases. This string of words may be asked in a superficial sense and other times in a profound, life changing sense, and not neglecting to acknowledge the whole spectrum in between.
The thing is . . . When you find yourself at a certain point in your life, where your trousers are not quivering because of the wind that is blowing, rather because of your legs feeling like jelly as a feeling of anxiety grips you, asking yourself WHAT AM I DOING . . . you should realise that you are at the point where you can either choose to stay in the boat, or decide to step out onto the water. If you choose to remain in the boat, you know it will give you a false sense of respite from the challenges of life, a decision governed by fear of the unknown, the uncertainty and not being in control, - better the devil you know than the devil you don`t know - or you can choose to step out of the boat, an act of courage, for you are yet to meet your devils on the sea.
Wheteher to remain in the boat or step out of the boat are not only for the brave of heart or strong heroes from your favourite movie, no . . . in all honesty every single individual decides to leave their boat in some way or another on a daily basis. Each step in this journey leaves a mark in the waves, which when you look back through a different lens, shows a life of courage in it`s own right. As each individual asks themselves WHAT AM I DOING . . . they paint a new face on courage which portrays a new dynamic in their life journey. The need for patience in learning your individual painting technique, acknowledging the small acts of courage you make daily, is the key to sailing the rough seas . . .
Courage can be to stand at an intersection asking for money to go to college wearing your best shirt and trousers on a freezing day in winter during the middle of a cold front, to pack up and move to a different country where you know no one, to put youself out there and be the one to make a friend, to not be so self critical and be accepting of life`s flaws, including your own, to get up one and a half hours earlier in the mornings to exercise, which means doing something for yourself for once, to trust someone again, to start your own company, to stand up for what you believe in, to intervene where people tell you there is nothing to be done, to have hope, to grow up and stay a child, to live your life, with your talents that will make a difference to someone somewhere someday, to become a parent, to be a friend, to make an independant decision, and not being influenced by the masses, to ask yourself what your impossible is, your limit . . . then going out to prove yourself wrong, to know yourself, to learn how to live a selfless life, to continue even against all odds, to face the day, to seek the light at the end of the tunnel when darkness has consumed you, to change, to persevere when everything is against you, to own your actions, to serve others, to understand your weaknesses . . .
What face did you care to paint on courage today?
Written by Celeste
GIOCA Cndidate, University of Bologna
Master of Arts Management Candidate
http://mostrarti.tumblr.com/post/100573090007/celeste-havenga-e-una-persona-dallanima
The TAKE 12 June Collaboration is in many ways more personal than the previous months, and also exactly halfway through this journey ! What an honour to be working with this amazing young creative woman, loved photographing you :)
I know being back in SA, roaming the streets of Johannesburg, embarking in some strange encounters with the locals, getting your dress all wrinkled, climbing stairs because the lifts in the building were faulty and having to negotiate timing for a flash sync was quite a different experience from your life in Italy, but oh don`t we just love to play :) Bon voyage Celeste, enjoy Nepal ! Just by the way, did I mention that this new journey for Celeste is sponsored by LEICA ? Stormy seas . . . behold . . . this girl is on the water.
a.foreign.affair _ aggregative Nepal is a research and crowd sourcing project undertaken by Celeste Havenga to be presented as the final thesis for the graduate degree in innovation and organisation of culture and the arts at the university of Bologna, Italy.
Concurrent with the research project, a portfolio of photographs depicting the recovery efforts and day to day life in Nepal will be compiled with the prospect of an exhibition as an added element of the final thesis presentation. To portray a personal story of the quake aftermath, the people, the animals, nature, built structures, the economic impact and the general ontology in Nepal.
