Stepping on a plane from Izmir/ Turkey, to start my journey for becoming an artist was one of the easiest things I had to do through out these whole three years of hard work. After the wheels left the ground, I have noticed that all the memories I had where I grew up were dancing and singing around the plane. Just like a wedding ceremony where the petals are falling from the sky. Adding a cheerful entrance to my future.
On the way to New York, I tried to examine the clouds which were passing through my window on the sky. There were some very heavy and clustered ones which they probably lead to a storm somewhere, whereas some of them were so suttle and calm. I tried to picture my upcoming year of study in my mind, making a relationship with the clouds on the sky. I think that some days will be packed with stuff to do just like that heavy pile of grey clouds heading to a mountain top. But I believe that the suttle and calm clouds will stop by and will invite a ray of sunshine in to the game.
The Experience and Meaning activity was something that helped me to understand the vibe of the city and get the taste of what its like to be in peace where in the background the life keeps on going. Visiting Washington Square park, and observing everything that is surrounding me was something that helped me to be aware of my senses and testing the extent of what they can recognise.
While sitting there for ten minutes with no pen, pencil to write or draw on or a mobile device to play with, I discovered that during our daily lives our senses can easily be hidden to the back of our minds. The habit of doing something constantly, checking e-mails, being on social media etc. does affect the time we pay attention to ourselves. Closing one sense and then paying attention to the other. To what our body is experiencing, to what our soul is feeling or even what is our brain thinking. With these kinds of exercises we stop, breathe, look around and then continue if we have to.
In my upcoming four years of study as an artist, I really want to ask myself, who am I? Who am I under all of those cluttered clouds, or the labels that are stuck to me. Can the sun reach through or does my thoughts block the way?
