“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.” -George Washington Carver
Remember where you came from. That is not to say you must retrace your physical steps, recalling every geographical place from whence you came. But know who you were once – in every iteration of what that means. You were a child, innocent and unlearned. You were a student, stumbling your way toward knowledge. You remain a human, always evolving in wisdom and perception. Those lucky enough to grow old will become the aged, perhaps endowed with the understanding that longevity breeds.
Laura Anderson Barbata recently closed an exhibition, Singing Leaf, at Marlborough Gallery. Something of a retrospective, the work in the show comes from time spent in the Venezuelan Amazon with the Indigenous Yanomami, Y’Kuana and Piaroa communities with whom she collaborated. To learn more, listen to the complete interview.
David Winner joined us for a second time to discuss his new book, Master Lovers. The story comes from hidden love letters from various men found in the apartment of his great-aunt after she died. Winner created the stories of these affairs with only the words of the men who wrote the letters, having to fill in the blanks himself. Listen to the complete interview to hear more about this new non-fiction work.
A few words to keep in your pocket
Remember these things – and remember where we are all ultimately headed – and don’t get too ahead of your own humility.
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android, please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews is here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Click to find out more about Master Lovers by David Winner. An anonymous Praxis user is reading The Robbers and Wallenstein by Friedrich Schiller.
Moab Arts Reuse Residency invites artists to apply for an experience in which today’s waste-making culture is challenged through the intersection of art, community and waste systems. To learn more, visit the website. Deadline for applications is October 31.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists, most recently Making it in the Art World.