The Natural Power Of Love
Nature and love seem to be powerful forces that people simply can’t dominate. No matter how industrial our society becomes, nature never fails to penetrate the toughest cement sidewalks, or the most structured buildings. Nature’s presence surrounds us, whether we welcome it or try to eradicate it. Romantic love shares similar challenges that nature faces but while nature’s beauty is never denied, the first faces more chastising antagonism. Romantic love is almost considered a taboo topic for single, young-adults, from traditional South-Asian societies and else where. Born in Pakistan, I hadn’t known any relatives that had any so-called “love-marriages”—or maybe they were all forced into hiding. Growing up in America, I have noticed a conflicting cultural aspect when it comes to the topic of romantic love, which is still a forbidden topic among traditional South-Asian Americans. Nonetheless, whether it is spoken of or not, such love exists and can’t be hidden in the depths of the mind. Like nature, it can emerge even among the toughest structures and obstacles. Furthermore, nature itself seems to champion and support the very essence of such love.
In my collage, I used a background with snow-covered mountain sitting upon a calm reflective lake with powdered evergreen trees and bushes in the foreground. The stillness in the environment and the cool colors add to the tranquil setting. There is no sense of rush or hesitation, and thus there are no signs of guilt. Furthermore, the white snow adds to purity. All this adds to nature’s acceptance and maintenance of romantic love. Heart shapes, made by layers of clothing, laces and even paper, symbolize Romantic love which, if taken a close look, is being taken apart by the two hands. In contrast to the calm mood, the red outline of the hands and the ash-like quality add a malignant quality even to the gentle and almost neutral stance of the hands. This is supposed to illustrate how culture may hinder the development of Romantic Love by gently taking it apart and hiding it. Furthermore, since the hand gesture seems to be almost neutral, it shows that society may truly believe its action of hindering romantic love is in the best interest of the people. The shape of the heart seems to reluctantly loosen up as the ends of the laces touch the outline of the center heart. In order to illustrate the positive influence of nature on romantic love, I chose two types of shiny sequence circles: silver, and dark-blue. Each part of nature holds corresponding influence on the displayed situation. The top part of the collage, where the snow-covered mountains are, has the silver dots, and the bottom portion, where the pond is, has blue dots. The spots seem to come together to form a more fortified and significant hear-shape that compasses the pre-existing hearts.
No matter, how domineering, societal and cultural influences may be, nature’s forces are almost impossible to factor out. Attempting to tear apart romantic love and silence its existence is impossible because nature, itself, seems to be a strong proponent of love. The harder one tries to silence it, the more prominent and fortified it emerges with the collaboration of nature.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:21 am
I think this is a great project. Growing up in a persian community, I can empathize with you regarding the lack of “love-marriages”. Many of the older members of my community married their cousins to prevent intermarriage. Nonetheless, love was absent in many of these marriages. Also, I think love is a great theme that no matter who, where, or when, you feel it and experience it to some degree. Just like nature, love is everlasting and everyone is shaken by its presence.