It often feels like a complex endeavour to reflect on art and its possibilities when everyday life is filled with urgent global news. And yet, the present moment feels like an essential time to draw on the power of the arts.
Each week, I deliberate over which works of art to discuss in this column so that I can share a rising thought or expanding feeling that might resonate with others. This process often involves trying to strike a balance between a work that takes us into the challenges of the here and now, or the effort of looking more deeply at our own lives, and a work that might offer some reprieve. Because, regardless of where we are in the world or our ongoing preoccupations, I believe that a significant experience or strong emotion felt by one of us is likely to resonate with a wider audience, since we are all connected in this business of being human. I am aware that every point in history has had its own intense challenges but it is also true that all of us are affected by the complexity and apparent chaos of our own era.