"A beautiful sunset, mist from the distant mountains, colored lights in a garden. A lady is standing on her balcony in a rose trellis bower, flooded with moonlight. We add five hundred thousand kilowatts of stardust, a soft summer breeze, and you look lovely in the moonlight, Kathy." - Don Lockwood, Singin' in the Rain
In theater and film, we put the lights, sounds, sets, costumes, and story all together and for what? Although the moment is fleeting, although the artwork is impermanent, it is all the more powerful.
This last year, my aunt passed away to cancer. It was incredibly difficult for her as she tried to get better. My family came together to try to give her the best time that she could have, the best chance that she could have, but it didn't work. However, the moments that we shared together were some of the most important. There are no photos when we laughed together, or when I could feel that she was scared, and yet it all happened.
Theater and film know about this beauty, as we reflect emotionally intimate moments with an audience. It is something fleeting and yet incredibly changing. We maintain it with records of history, yet that feeling, that empathetic moment is something we don't have perfect words for. It is the meal made in a day, yet consumed in minutes. It is the friends we make along the way in the journey. It is the ways in which we communicate from app to app, from telephone, to telegram, to letter, to words, to song, to dance, to a look from across the room. How we communicate changes within our eras and our circumstances.
One of the most beautiful things within the moment is the space. A place that we take care of not only for ourselves, but for each other. Sitting together and finding those moments of human, unconditional love. Love is a big word, but it's not the word. It's that true shared feeling of trust and respect.
Now, was Don and Kathy's romance linked above unconditional? Maybe not, but they did use shared space in a particular way to show affection in a fleeting moment.
My personal year was a difficult one, but I am so grateful to have been able to have those beautiful fleeting moments with those that care for me - and to find that unconditional love with friends and family. May your year have strength, beauty, hope, and unconditional love.
My Last Year in Photos, 2024
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