In early February, The Guardian featured a story by Francine Prose, a former director of PEN, entitled “America feels like a country on the brink of an authoritarian takeover”. Caught into darker, frightening world and the search for equanimity resonated with my own story: “A Little Respite: Patterns, Textures and Shadows”. My own response — or one of them, is in concurrence with her friend’s video about birds.

As Prose wrote: “This morning I went off – I apologize! – on a college classmate who sent an email link to a video of birds that others might want to watch as “relief from the weather and the news”. I wasn’t saying we should stop enjoying the birds. I’m thrilled that so many robins elected to stick around this winter. I even like watching the crows and turkey vultures pick the roadkill clean. But I don’t really want “a relief” from the loss of Renee Good and Alex Pretti or from the resistance beginning in Minneapolis.” 

To take a step away, take a breather, call it escape from the disturbing news to which we are relentlessly subjected, I’d like to offer a few less emotionally charged, more “abstract” images. Seeking a respite from graphically painful images is a bit like listening to Bach or Mozart. (In fact, for over a year, when not listening to NPR news or other, my husband and I turn to classical music stations.)

As I hope my images reveal, such a perspective on our larger environment involves seeking patterns, textures, colors and shadows, among others. Be they visible in structures: doors, stairs, walls or roofs, or in nature: water and plants, they offer solace. Abstract Expressionism, emerging in the 20th century after World War II, might also be viewed as a type of respite from a tumultuous and violent world: the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam and the hovering prospect of someone “pushing the button.”

Turning to nature, with basic elements such as water, sand and light, a more fluid, ephemeral world awaits.