Imprisoned Eye, A Painting by Claire Walker-Stapley
The photo below was taken when I was young and on holiday in Asia visiting a zoo. Many zoos do amazing work, prioritising welfare and contributing to conservation and research, but this was not one of those zoos and I would not visit it now. It is interesting how we change with time. The bird in this image was stunning. A Crested Serpent Eagle with a strong face and defiant eyes. Intelligent, powerful and focused. A beautiful creature trapped in a tiny cage with thick steel bars. When I loaded the image on my computer after the holiday I realised the bars of the cage were reflected in the pupil of the bird’s intense yellow eye. It is an image that has always made me very uncomfortable. By expressing interest, by taking a photo, by even being there I feel that I contributed in some way to the plight of this beautiful creature. This image taught me something and it changed me. The intersection of an eye, a reflection, the bars of a cage and the colour yellow seem to speak. It is powerful symbolism and perhaps represents an opportunity to illustrate the sadness that results when human ignorance is forced on the natural world.
Photographing birds in the wild takes an enormous amount of time and patience. Many hours must be spent observing, waiting and watching. Over time an appreciation of the complexity and intricity of the natural world devlopes. There are relationships within species and between species. Interactions between plants, animals, geography, microbes, weather, moon phase and human disturbance. Every observation means something but understanding exactly what can be a long process. Over time I have realised how little I really understand and how much I love and respect the natural world.
Humanity is riddled with esculating disconnection. We are disconnected from each other, disconnected from nature, disconnected from reality and disconnected from ourselves. The voids that result are easily filled with distractions and addictions of all kinds. We have devised an enormous range of incredibly clever, creative ways to find temporary relief and feel okay. It is a hilarious tragedy that most of these strategies simply intensify the disconnections that inspired them in the first place. Maintaining a connection with nature is difficult. It takes time and consistent effort. It is something that developes slowly with direct experience and involvement. It is something that many people in our modern world simply do not have. As a species, when we do not see the intricate complexity of life, when we are unable to sense the subtle rhythms that play how can we resepct that reality and appreciate its value? In ignorance, we see beauty and want to own it, we see commercial potential and take it all, we see space occupied by nature and destroy it, we are frightened by the unpredictability and want to contol it. Whenever something beautiful and free becomes entangled in one of our ignorant grabs at control we all pay a price. The world becomes tighter and the subtle rhythms of life slip further from our understanding. The quest to own and control comes at a great cost to ourselves, to others, to life and to the planet.
‘Imprisoned Eye’ by Claire Walker-Stapley
I recently showed the Crested Serpent Eagle image to an artist friend, Claire Stapely-Walker and explained the story of it’s capture and the thoughts it had provoked. Claire paints eyes and was inspired to create a work that represented both the photograph and my thoughts. It has been an interesting process resulted in an incredible painting that has provoked more thoughts. Claire’s work is beautiful and involves a broad range of subjects. Eyes, trees, whales birds, bees, turtles and elephants. Many of Claire’s paintings are for sale as prints and she can be found on Instagram and Facebook by clicking the links below.
The reality that this beautiful bird lived its life out in a tiny cage of steel bars is a tragedy, just one example of an overwhelming mass of sadness created when human ignorance interesects with nature. We are all in a prison of some sort. In many ways I identify with this bird, the constraints of my own mind are the steel bars. I have struggled in life to manage anxiety and insecurity, to speak assertively and authentically, to know who I am and what I believe and to stand up for those things. At times it has descended into messy, destructive and desperate conduct.
The bars are different for all of us. We stay silent when we should speak, use intimidation and violence because we are afraid to be kind or vulnerable, shut down because we are unable to feel, turn to addictions because we cannot bear the pain, avoid responsibility because we cannot face the shame . Often we stay well away from the bars avoiding situations which make them visible, pretending they are not there. Alternatively we blame the world or shift the focus onto the limitations of others rather than see our own. Sometimes we face the bars and manage to push them out, broadening our options and perspective. Sometimes life circumstances force us to touch the cold steel and we are faced with the choice!! Push the bars out or to stay constrained. Sometimes we get a reprieve, the pressure lifts and we back away into a delusion of reality only to find outselves there again later. A different time, a different place, with a different person yet pushed back up hard against the same old limitation. To shift the bars is a life’s work, different for all of us in the degree and direction the battle takes. Many remain tightly imprisoned. Many, with enormous effort and courage push the bars out to a broader, wiser perspective. A few enlightened ones dissolve the bars entirely and fly free.
These are the thoughts that came when I saw Claire’s interpretation of my photo. I am deeply appreciative, it is a powerful image to hold in my mind. A visual representation of how I want to live, slowly pushing out the bars! A reminder that it takes courage and persitance to face and change limitations and weaknesses. A picture of the freedom and increased opportunity that comes when we are able to do this. Birds flying free as they should be.
“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
―T.E. Lawrence,Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph
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