Audio recording two: a student, originally from India, has an intimate conversation with her mother about the topic of adversity. Their conversation weaves warmth and humor with the struggles of adjusting to life in Qatar and reflections on the bonds between family and friends. In this recording, adversity is characterized as an everyday occurrence and as something that teaches compassion, strength and release from the inconsequential entities of life. The theme of letting go struck me as a reflective concept mirrored in several religious disciplines, usually discussed as the principal of non-attachment.
My response to this student’s interview is a photograph of a cavern found in the Qatari desert and a figure staring into it. This photo was chosen as visual placeholder for the reflective sensitivity of the human mind that attends non-attachment. The vector overlay distorts the clarity of the photographic image except for two places where the grid is erased to give an unimpeded view of the figure and the opening to the cave. Visiting this cave brought to mind the vastness of geologic time and, in comparison, the smallness of human lifetime.