Over
the break, I wrote this in my Notes app, admittedly very late at night, in regards to the idea of destiny. I tried not to edit it, to preserve my feelings at the moment.
“I don’t believe in destiny. I decided that tonight. I believe in the exact opposite. I believe in chance. I believe in the little pockets of perfection that somehow just barely makes up for all the other things. The moments that only happen because of a split-second decision. Because if it’s all part of some plan, what’s the point. I need the thrill of the thought that anything could happen. I don’t want to base my decisions on trying to adhere to some greater plan. The best things in life happen at random. Nothing good comes with plans, because plans give you expectations. I started listening to my favorite singer because a counselor at summer camp played it while we were on a hike. I had the best week of my summer because I decided I was staying in Philadelphia an extra week, even though I missed my friends back home. The world is too beautiful to have a plan for us. I just want to close my eyes and take it in. I believe in walks at night. I believe the last song on the album is the best. I believe in glances. I believe in moments and memories and smiles and tears (to that one song). I believe that if there is a plan I don’t want to know. I don’t believe in destiny.”
What I view as randomness, others see as destiny. Romeo and Juliet meeting each other could be viewed as destiny, or as the result and culmination of a million decisions, they made before that moment. The art that I created was meant to represent how I choose to look at the idea of destiny.
Image 1:
Even before we are born, the circumstances of our parents’ lives and the state of the world affect us. I had my mother pick out a color for me to paint my canvas to represent this. Their
lives affect us before we are even born. Their jobs, moral beliefs and economics all are imprinted upon us.
Image 2:
Throughout our lives, we make choices that each opens up new opportunities and paths that our lives could go down. These paths stem off of each other, sometimes leading nowhere, sometimes doubling back, intersecting, or splitting off. The choices that we make affect all of the aspects of our life. This is the part of life that we have control of.
Image 3:
I used watercolor, a very fluid medium, to represent the random events and encounters. I placed down color on the canvas and sprayed it with water until it began to spread around the canvas.
This is the part that people identify as destiny. I view it as simple randomness. Most of the time it does not amount to anything, and instead adds color and nuance to our lives.
Image 4:
After the watercolor dried, I added smaller lines, stemming off of and connecting the thicker, black lines already on the canvas. For me, these represented the people who affect and change each of the paths that our lives take.
Image 5:
I took a gold marker and added dots and circles wherever I wanted. This represents us telling our story. People take their lives, the choices they make, the people around them, the events left up to chance, and create a story out of it. We take the events of our lives and add to it to create a coherent story.
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