Bared Skin, Bared Soul,
Beneath the arch of bark, tall banks of swaying fonds, in light's cherished embrace,
the welcomed bond, innocence and encounter, sheds its sweetness
and once more, affirms the goodness of such mystery, and secret wonder.
Inspired by 'Child & the Unknown' by Wynn Bullock.
It is a constant source of delight - exploring the wonder of engaging with the naturalness of being here.
It never ceases to surprise or renew, to affirm just how extraordinary it is, simply to be.
In what we hear, smell, touch, taste and feel, we truly seek an affirmation - a sensual expression that verifies the truth, the rightness of our connection to all. Photographer Wynn Bullock spoke of all our endeavors, spiritual and material as having one over-arching intent - to facilitate a means of connection to the reality which surrounds us and yet is beyond us. That is why art and other means are of such import - they allow us a way whereby we begin to engage with those realms which are of deepest import, to sense their weight and to touch, if all but briefly, a glint of some of the intentions of the mind behind such beauty and grace.
We could no doubt merely survive on a basic state of the most elemental stimulation - light and dark, food and water, air and sleep - but we inhabit a realm which lavishes upon us an abundance of colours, textures, flavors, aromas and moments that turn the caves of our souls into storehouses of some of the richest treasures in time and space - places filled with the treasures of encounter with a beauty and a grace which whispers amidst such splendor into the very fabric of our bones.
That is why the camera, the pen, the brush, or just our eyes and feet, keep calling us back to the sweetness of what surrounds us, to engage again, and be truly intoxicated by such wonder - it is the dance which ravishes, sustains and satisfies us as fully as bread and light. It calls us in the still, calm hours of embrace in twilight, or the innocence and marvel of dawn. It rushes over us in clear waters, and nestles us as we rest upon it shores.
The longing is always for more, for here, we escape the poverty of our broken, pained universe, painted with bleak streaks of insignificance, and constantly re-discover our child-like wisdom that who we are, what we are, is of infinite significance.
May we so 'escape' today.
Images: Summer Honey. Model: Allegra. Being. Model: Erin. Realization. Models: Allegra & Erin. Trinity. Models: Erin, Allegra & Magenta. From the Exmoor 2010 Collection. All images by Howard Nowlan.
