Learning to be in a state of learning
31 August, 2021
After reading the book Make Ink: A Forager's Guide to Natural Inkmaking, I signed up to receive Jason Logan’s email newsletters, and it was from these that I was introduced to Leonora Carrington.
In Carrington’s surreal tales, every living thing, from horses to trees are treated as if they are human, all possessing intelligence, status and communication skills. Her stories are unpredictable journeys that never resolve, her story The House of Fear even ends with the word ‘But’.
Each story juxtaposes the ordinary with the absurd, mocking the pointless rules of society.
I got a copy of The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington as an audio book from the library, and the more I listened to Carrington’s stories, the less bizarre they became. It was as if I was becoming desensitised to the absurdity. This surprised me. I stared to wonder if I read about my world without any prior knowledge of the human species, would it sound absurd? If I was to tell you humans had decided to put our clocks forward an hour so we could have more sunlight at night, would you think I was telling you one of Carrington’s satirical tales?
Societies have historically been afraid of artists because they threaten the status quo by questioning it1. Carrington’s stories made me question my conformity to life’s rules, by demonstrating the speed at which acceptance can occur.
Rollo May suggests true creativity requires commitment, as well as an awareness that you might be wrong. Conviction requires doubt, because doubt allows for learning2.
There is always doubt when making ink and working with natural materials – questioning everything you are doing is built into the process. By going ahead despite knowing that the plant you are using could yield nothing but a mess gives me this incredible sense of freedom. Carrington’s stories shifted my perception, and allowed me to question known truths, and embrace doubt as part of my creative journey.
- Rollo May, The Courage to Create (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975).
- Rollo May, The Courage to Create (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975).