Living Canvases, the story continues
By Grace Carballo ‘17
As I wrote in a post last week, I had the opportunity to portray the amazing turning points in the life of a woman named Carolyn through the new program called Living Canvases. When I sketched and resketched and eventually painted these moments, my understanding of Carolyn’s life came from a recording of her describing these moments, a photo of her, and a sketch she had outlined herself. But, on Monday, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Carolyn in person, along with two of her amazing neighbors, and her mother, Dorothy.
Over coffee, fruit, and a respectable supply of brownies, each artist and subject pairing, along with family and friends, got to know each other even better.
Having the chance to explain what parts of her story really struck me and how I chose to represent them in the painting was such an honor. I know art is supposed to speak for itself, but I’m much more of a talker than I’ll ever be an artist. Plus, I had a lot of follow-up questions and these women are exceptionally wise- I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.
Carolyn and I sort of co-told her story to her mother and neighbors using the painting as our outline. I explained that the black and white portion represented her experience with segregation in Memphis and how when she came to L.A. she felt it was “a place you could go anyplace”, which was one of my favorite quotes from the recording and what I titled the painting. We talked about how hard it was to relearn everything from speaking to eating to even moving her hands after being in a coma for 6 months and how I represented that with the flight of stairs, something she talked about dreading but that made her so much stronger.
I painted the Point of No Return where she visited in Senegal and reflected on her ancestry and she told me about the castles there and what that felt like to experience. I showed her the little snail I included on a mountain behind the L.A. skyline as a nod to her humorous experience with a mountain of snails at a marketplace in Nigeria and we both agreed we weren’t into the idea of eating snails.
The exhibits were all beautiful, complete with the painting, the subject’s sketch, a photo and description of both subject and artist, and the original recording of the turning points. Here, Carolyn listens to her recording at our section of the exhibit.
I asked Carolyn, Dorothy, and her neighbors if they had any life advice for me because they all are doing so well. They plan all sorts of events and have no shortage of fun; they even invited me to a party they’re hosting, The Annual Mad Hatter Tea Party, which also has an auction and prize for the best hat! I had a hat all picked out in my mind before I realized I cannot attend because I will be back home already, but I still love how much they love life. They’ve had no shortage of difficulties and setbacks, a number of them health related, but their resilience and positivity definitely inspired me.
One of their neighbors advised “Do not have kids!” because it takes your whole life away and I assured her I’m far too self-involved to even consider taking care of someone else anytime soon. The one life lesson they all adamantly believed in was that you should take time to travel and get to know other people and different perspectives. This unanimous assertion could not have come at a more perfect time, as I am starting to have second thoughts about spending so much time abroad next year. After hearing about their favorite places and experiences, I feel a lot better about it and have definitely taken this as a good sign.
Carolyn and her family and friends are exceptional people and I would never have gotten the opportunity to meet her if this amazing program had not brought us together. A Place Where You Can Go Anyplace will be on display in the Davis School, I believe, but Carolyn received a framed copy which she told me she wants to display at home.
Once more, I thought about what I would want to look at every day if someone painted my life, what story would I want them to tell? If there’s one thing I learned from telling Carolyn’s story and meeting her on Monday, it’s that the only way to live life is fully.
If my life flashes before my eyes anytime soon, I definitely don’t want to be bored watching it.
