Last week I watched the short video below about a couple who creates art out of plastic found on the beach in California.
There’s a Texas-sized island of plastic floating in the ocean and over 46,000 pieces of visible plastic per square mile of water. That’s an obscene amount, and it’s hard to visualize. So this married couple is doing something unique with the plastic they find on one California beach.
It is a wonderful video, well worth watching. It not only shows how two people create an unusual life by paying attention to what the universe shows them, but it also brings attention to a very important issue – the volume of plastics in our oceans. It’s not that plastics are bad per se, it’s just that it is so well made it never degrades and it is decimating our oceans and the wildlife that lives there. We need to develop materials that don’t have these devastating effects. This is a subject I care about deeply. I am particularly interested in how art can bring attention to this issue, which is what the Langs are doing. If you would like to learn more I have linked to sites below. What struck me most though, was a line by Richard Lang at the end of the video, where he says,
The opposite of beauty is not ugliness. The opposite of beauty is indifference.
Guardrail Rust
When I talk about seeing, this is exactly what I mean. We pass by so many things, people, and situations that are considered ugly, ordinary, or just not worthy of our time or attention. Yet, when we really take the time to observe and attend to anything, we can’t help but see that there is beauty there. It may be well hidden, but it is there. Even when much of what goes around you is uncertain or chaotic, there is beauty that you may be missing.
A metaphorical example – walking along an ordinary street over a culvert, I noticed the rust on the guardrail, which you can see to your right. This type of seeing actually makes my days more enjoyable.
What else could I be missing? How about a rose blooming in November? Or, the elderly neighbor who probably has good stories to tell. Or the waitress at the restaurant who may be a world class violinist just trying to make ends meet.
Where are you indifferent? Can you see beauty there?
Further Reading
One Beach Plastic – Richard and Judy Lang
I never thought of indifference that way, but the more I thought about that quote, the more I got it. Of course if we are not appreciating what is around us, we are indifferent. This is not how I want to be in the world and I am always grateful for reminders such as this. Thank you!
Thank you for the link to the Langs’ work – very interesting and inspiring. Thank you for sharing it. And I so agree with you – about how taking the time to see can bring so much beauty into our lives.