It’s about Light: The Art of Life

Life & Friendship

Fay & Terry in Pujols, France (2018)

I heard the sad news today that my dear friend, Fay Kelly, passed away yesterday.  I am in shock and in disbelief that her life ended so abruptly.  I have such fond memories of time spent together in France and in New York when she visited me. I will miss Fay and the memories will stay with me for she played an important role in my life.  

Fay, Louise and me - chez Louise Finn in Pujols (2018)

While I was creating a new life, I was blessed to meet people who became my family of friends and who enriched my life in countless ways.  During those nine years I spent in New York away from my family in Canada, my friends were there for me and I am forever grateful to my friend, Fay Kelly, who flew from England to take care of me after my operation when I was diagnosed with cancer. Before she returned to England, I organized a thank-you dinner at the local café in Tudor City, which was closed at night but the owner, who was a friend of mine, cooked couscous for us, and our first “Life & Friendship” gathering took place. 

This was the beginning of a fascinating journey for the “Life & Friendship” gathering took a life of its own and became a reoccurring event that grew as more friends joined in.  When people move to New York, they don’t have their family nearby and, therefore, friends become family.

It’s about Light: The Art of Life

Trees of my world

As they say, there is always a silver lining when struggling with difficult experiences and art has been and remains my ultimate quest for a meaningful life.  Jean Houston writes about creativity: “Now, creativity doesn’t have to lead to something.  It doesn’t have to result in a song, a dance, a novel, a better mousetrap.  The greatest form of creativity is the re-creation of yourself.  Moreover, the creative work you do on yourself will heighten your capacity for creativity in other things”. 

Creating a new life requires a sense of resilience to transform which also means letting go of the past which also means peeling away layers of false interpretations, beliefs, and expectations.

When building a new life, remembering only sorrows or painful moments increases negativity while practicing gratitude improves not only life in general but also it improves creativity and the healing process. Sometimes we block our own growth while being challenged. 

Trees of my world bis

In a state of creativity, one gets a glimpse of eternity for there is no time, no space, only intense and pure joy, pure bliss.  This is how I feel when I am in harmony with nature which brings me into a state of creativity being in tune with life, with the universe.  It’s as if yielding to a power not my own and beyond me, surrendering to a power greater than I can even imagine, flowing with the immense flow of existence where lies real life, for real life is love, creativity, beauty, and harmony.

The Art of Life – the UN Path

The United Nations Headquarters in 1952

Today marks the signing of the United Nations Charter 75 years ago which is taking place during an unprecedented time in history as the high-level debate of the General Assembly will take place via pre-recorded statements.

When I moved to New York for the first time in 1989 to work at the United Nations, I felt so at home working in an international environment while living in such an exciting city, rich with its cultural diversity.  I had the chance to meet some wonderful people who are, to this day, still my friends.

While working at the United Nations in New York in the 1990s, I had the opportunity of meeting people from all over the world and, as a result of my working in the office the Under-Secretary-General for Public Information, I also met some important public figures. At that time, there were a great many changes in the world.

Audrey Hepburn at UN Radio

I will never forget during an international conference for the Rights of the Child Summit when Audrey Hepburn came to our office to rest for I believe she was ill at the time.  It was a magical moment and inspiring for she was humble with a very kind disposition, unlike a movie star. What I admired the most about Hepburn was not only because she was a great actress, but also that she used her fame for a humanitarian cause.  In her biography by Barry Paris: “from 1988 until the end of her life, Hepburn became a special ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund.  Her trips to Ethiopia and Somalia demonstrated her whole-hearted and tireless commitment.  Never before had so great a star so vigorously lent herself to such a crusade.” 

Faced with a global pandemic, we are reminded what truly matters and if we look deeper, it’s more than the material and the need to accumulate things, it’s more about the love we give and receive, about compassion for those who are suffering.    

It's about Light: The Art of Life

Our Love is Here to Stay

Early on at an early age, I went searching for the meaning of life leaving home, unprepared for such an adventure, at the age of 17 to follow the love of my life for, in my view, love was the answer to all my problems.  One of my favorite philosophers, Søren Kierkegaard writes: “What, after all, is a human being without love?” Romantic loving is beautiful because it is intoxicating and extraordinarily interesting and transforms one’s life so much that it feels as if it is of mythological proportions.’’  However, Kierkegaard also viewed loving relationships as a reflection of a lack of self-development ending in despair. 

Despair I have experienced when my marriage ended after nine years, living both in the United States and in Belgium, after which the real adventure of my life began when I was prompted to turn to my artistic calling.  When the heart is filled with pain, we tend to find a way to heal and art is what brought me back to life.  I had been in front of the camera throughout our married life, for my ex-husband was a photographer, and thanks to him, I was introduced to photography when he offered me my first 35mm camera, a Yashica, as a birthday gift. 

Nevertheless, I can reflect on my life now, and actually, I can see that there are no real mistakes.  Life challenges are what constitutes the notion of the human experience and that’s what it means to live life, that unbearable lightness of being.  When reflecting about life and death, we tend to connect the dots for every experience, every person we meet along the way brings something to enrich our lives.  After all, in the whole spectrum of the universe, we are stardust, we are small dots in the midst of an infinite universe. 

It's about Light: The Art of Life

Early on at an early age, I went searching for the meaning of life leaving home, unprepared for such an adventure, at the age of 17 to follow the love of my life for, in my view, love was the answer to all my problems.  One of my favorite philosophers, Søren Kierkegaard writes: “What, after all, is a human being without love?” Romantic loving is beautiful because it is intoxicating and extraordinarily interesting and transforms one’s life so much that it feels as if it is of mythological proportions.’’  However, Kierkegaard also viewed loving relationships as a reflection of a lack of self-development ending in despair. 

Despair I have experienced when my marriage ended after nine years, living both in the United States and in Belgium, after which the real adventure of my life began when I was prompted to turn to my artistic calling.  When the heart is filled with pain, we tend to find a way to heal and art is what brought me back to life.  I had been in front of the camera throughout our married life, for my ex-husband was a photographer, and thanks to him, I was introduced to photography when he offered me my first 35mm camera, a Yashica, as a birthday gift. 

In Paris

Nevertheless, I can reflect on my life now, and actually, I can see that there are no real mistakes.  Life challenges are what constitutes the notion of the human experience and that’s what it means to live life, that unbearable lightness of being.  When reflecting about life and death, we tend to connect the dots for every experience, every person we meet along the way brings something to enrich our lives.  After all, in the whole spectrum of the universe, we are stardust, we are small dots in the midst of an infinite universe. 

It's about light: the Art of Life

Trees of Friendship

Tree Web of Friendship

My inquiry into the meaning of life is an on-going process as is the case for any artist trying to bring more meaning into artmaking. I’m getting older and I wonder if I’ll be able to make all my dreams come true as an artist while bringing more meaning into my life.  I also realize how life is so precious and especially now, as death is on the horizon with this global pandemic, life is even more precious and that of the people I love.  Although I have no family of my own, I feel very blessed to have my siblings, my cousins, and my family of friends who enrich my life in countless ways.  I am so grateful to have met people who crossed my path along the way and who remain part of my life for distances don’t matter when friendship is of the heart. These memoirs are somewhat dedicated to all the people in my life who bring meaning to my existence together with my art. 

It is unsettling when we realize our finality and that there is no escape from such a reality.  Does it always take a tragedy to bring meaning to life? How does one bring more meaning into one’s life? Eric Maisel in his book, “Coaching the artist within”, makes reference to the difficulty in bringing meaning not only to our life but also to our art, to get a grip of the mind and to achieve being present in order to do art from within, the deep source: “We are spiritual beings trying to learn how to live in the physical body, as opposed to human beings trying to learn how to be spiritual.”

Trees of Life & Friendship

It’s about Light: the Art of Life

Black & Blue Trees of my Heart

While we are in the midst of a global pandemic, although I love to travel it is impossible at this time for me to plan and prepare for an exhibition, to run away to a distant destination.  Since I can no longer run away, it is an opportunity to travel inward to seek deeper, allowing for an existential inquiry into the meaning of life.   When going through a time of crisis and major transition, we all respond to life’s challenges in a different way, most importantly, how we react and what effect it has on our lives determines the person we are becoming.  

As we are witnessing a great many changes in our world today, we are also seeing the worst and the best of humanity when compassion and love overcome selfishness, and hate for the global pandemic brings out what we were too busy to notice before.  The haves and haves not, the widening gap between rich and poor, there is a crying need to redress social injustice and to bring more humanity into society, to bring more meaning into our lives. 

Le Louvre, Paris

Metaphorically in the art of black and white photography, as it is in our world, there is an important interplay of light and shadow while highlighting details, that gives meaning to an image, hence the need to strike a balance between these opposites.  We are at a major turning point in human history to choose what matters most so that humanity can survive.  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an important figure in the history of philosophy, refers to that “which he terms pitié (compassion). Pitié directs us to attend to and relieve the suffering of others (including animals) where we can do so without danger to our own self-preservation.”

                                                    

                                                                    Nabeul, Tunisia

''As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.''- Albert Schweitzer

It is said that artists are born under Saturn…meaning that the source of their creativity is also the root of their suffering and often we don’t understand that our passions have something to do with life making sense. Throughout my life, when I dismissed and undermined my urge to create, I became depressed and life was meaningless. 

At the age of 14, I was faced with death when my father died suddenly in our home and such a trauma changed the course of my life.  In search of meaning, I was a seeker in need of answers about life.  I realized then that life is very fragile, a gift that we often take for granted.  In my humble view, to live life fully meant to learn, to see the world, to seek adventure for it is through life’s experiences that we gain knowledge and insights. Most importantly, love, love, love.