Wow. Sometimes I see things that are beautiful and they just leave me speechless. These moments can be subtle and by chance like hearing a baby laughing at the grocery store or sometimes they are created like a Beatriz Milhazes painting at the MoMA. A few days ago I saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a film directed by Julian Schnabel, and the beauty of that artwork has yet to leave me.
The perspective in the film is from the main character who awakes in a hospital to find that he has "locked-in syndrome", a condition which has left him without the ability to speak and without the movement of his body. One eye becomes his portal to the world around him and his only mode of communication.
The tragedy of his condition gives way the beauty of his observations. The glimps he gets when a breeze whisps his wifes skirt to reveal her inner thigh has a new meaning. A quiet moment of beauty to a man who no longer has the sense of touch or speech to express his desires, sexual and otherwise.
As I read Rachel Kushner's article about video artist Miranda July, I was reminded how July also pays attention to the subtle nuances in life. Pooping back and forth and such. ))<>((
