Eternal

"All there is, is the reflection of the eternal, the eternal that is formless and within each of us. The gaze of the persons in the paintings turns inwards always, it is this look within that is the essence of this art." Benoy K. Behl

This is a statement made by behl, the artist in my last blog entry. His most recent work focuses on photographing the Anjanta cave paintings in India. This excerpt, from a recording about his thoughts on his project, struck me for a number of reasons.
In Hindu philosophy it is believed that we all have an individual soul, and that this individual soul is the reflection of the divine. This soul, or Purusha in Sanscrit, lives on forever. The soul is not affected by nature. It is always clear and true.
The next part that interested me was the way he talked baout the gaze of the person's in the paintings. He mentioned that the gaze turns inward. This is the essence of the art. While looking at my family videos, and studying the gestures, expressions, and gaze of the subjects this idea rings true. Each expression and look of my grandmother or mother helps me to look inward, at my family as well as myself.
My work is much more than documenting my family history. This work is a study of the inner workings of my family. I can sense the inner person or sould within each of my fa,ily members while looking at these images.
At times I have thought of these images and videos as making the passing moment into something more eternal. By documenting these moments in history they are no longer souly in the past. They have moved into the present and the furure. Over the past year I have thought of these images as eternal now that they are in tapes and recorded back to film, then printed out on paper. After listening to this recording I have started to realize that nothing I do will make these recorded moments eternal. The moments, and the souls of the subjects are the only eternal things. The thing are not tangible though. There is not a thing I can do to make these things permanent. The only permanent things can be the moments in the past. The fact that they occurred at sme point in time makes them live on.