In November I visited the Neue National Gallerie here in Berlin to see the retrospective, This Will Not End Well by Nan Goldin, an American born photographer. Instead of single photographs in the exhibit, however, the images are combined (“I’m really a filmmaker,” Goldin says) into six different slideshows, spanning fifty years. Goldin, a recovering OxyContin addict, covers topics of suicide, domestic violence, AIDS, depression, addiction and family dysfunction. The slideshows / movies are intense, confrontational and sometimes painful to watch.
I have looked at a lot of art since I arrived in Berlin. Not just the everyday art of the UBahn stations that always knock my socks off but paintings by the “Old Masters”, bronze sculpture in fountains, textiled art you can walk on and photographs of anonymous women drowning in domestic bliss in small galleries. Art soothes me but the more I wander in large halls with high ceilings or sit in anonymous rooms watching dim screens, the more I think breathing in art is a way for me to experience a higher power. Higher power in the sense of something greater than myself. Some of you might like to say experiencing God or something similarly vast and other worldly.
Which lead me to wonder what that looks like for you.
Where have you seen or experienced a higher power?
I find it the every day things like a gentle breeze, a warm smile, a calming scent, or a melodious sound. I feel it in harmonious spaces and definitely around the ocean, and that there’s always a larger force than myself present.
I find it the every day things like a gentle breeze, a warm smile, a calming scent, or a melodious sound. I feel it in harmonious spaces and definitely around the ocean, and that there’s always a larger force than myself present.
I appreciate the accessibility of seeing a higher power in the everyday. Thanks for this Holly!
Dancing in sacred circles with like hearted women is my personal church
I'm a pretty self-conscious dancer but most any kinds of circle work is exhilarating to me. Thank you for this comment, Diahann.
I find a communal energy and higher being listening to live music. Dancing with a room full of strangers feels like a spiritual exchange.
I love that live music offers that transcendent experience for you, Marlena. Thanks for sharing.