Why do Other People have it so Easy?
read to the end for links to upcoming events.
Dear reader,
In his extraordinary book Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, William Dalrymple speaks to a Muslim woman who emigrated from East-Central India to live at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan. She tells him a story of the famous Sufi saint, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. Once, he was walking through the desert with his friend and needed to camp for the night. But neither of them had wood to build a fire. So Lal Shahbaz turned himself into an eagle and flew to hell to bring back fire to help them pass the cold desert night. But after a long time, he returned empty handed. When his friend asked why, he said - There are no fires in hell. Everyone who goes there, brings their own fire, and pain, from his world.
Reader, having put myself in the business of noticing people, I find that my mind also auto-assigns a simplicity to their lives, an obviousness to how they present themselves. That they are dressed exactly as they want to be. That they do the job that they wanted. That they wear their hair the way they intended. That they are who they are, and as they want to be. It is only me who is still undefined and uncertain, so uncertain.
When Jean-Paul Sartre said that hell is other people, he was speaking of how our awareness of other people makes us conscious of ourselves - our bodies, our peculiarities, and our various insufficiencies. So I wonder if what we see in other people is also a reflection of ourself. I wonder if we build our own versions of heaven and hell on earth every day.
Anyway, here are some complete beings that do not think about any of this stuff.
📚 Open Studio + Sketchbook Showing
On Saturday April 11, I am collaborating with local artist Harvey Chan to show sketchbooks from the last ~9 years of drawing from observation. We will talk about our individual journeys with sketchbook-ing, and how this practice informs our art practice.
I will also be showing latest linocuts, and many original drawings will be for sale.
🗓️ Upcoming Events
🇨🇦 [25 April] On Canadian Indie Bookstore Day, I will be at Nooroongji Books on Granville Island (Vancouver) from 1-3pm, signing books and offering new prints for sale.
🗽 [2 May] I will be in New York City, drawing everywhere but also doing a workshop with the NYC Urban Sketchers. Sign up!
✍🏼 [15 & 16 Aug] I am doing two separate workshops at Art Spot in Edmonds (WA). Grab your seats here and/or here.
❤️ And suddenly, a book review
Quite randomly, I visited the Amazon page of Make (Sneaky) Art and found this delightful review:
Officially 6 months post release, it is heartwarming and invigorating to hear from someone in another part of the world that discovers the book, maybe in a bookstore, maybe from a recommendation. It reminds me that even if writing books does not pay very well, it pays to write a good book.
Thank you for reading. I am so glad to have a space in your inbox. If you liked this post, share it with a friend who gets unnecessarily existential over ordinary things. Jeez, what a way to live.
So insightful, and yes, I do believe we create our own heaven and hell here on earth.
Interesting that most of us think we're the only one. I guess it's then about where you position your reality. Or if you choose not to