Now I realize that the above title echoes in the minds of those who followed The X Files as it does mine (I own the complete series on DVD), but truth is a malleable, ever-changing concept. It’s like memory. Why is it that when we recall something from the past, an event or conversation with a close friend, our memory slightly changes with each new remembrance? Memories become make believe; we see them in our minds differently each time we recall specific events. We remember that Halloween party years ago; it may be vividly etched in our brain, but we can’t quite recall what costume we put together at the last moment. Truth over time is much the same. How it is interpreted and by whom can change as fast as that character in The X Files, the shape-shifting alien bounty hunter (trivia question purposely intended). In the process of making art, we try our best to find truth and honesty within the work, we attempt to be true to ourselves alone, but finding those truths can be challenging and the challenge becomes the goal. Truth is what we discover when we are looking the other way.
Acting, like any creative process works much the same way. When I was a young actor, I was lucky enough to work with a good director who told us to forget who we were, to take ourselves off of ourselves and react with open honesty, because then and only then will we find the hidden truth in the character. That challenge was easier said than done, but it became a goal I still believe in today, and yes . . . truth is what is discovered when we are looking the other way. That is the creative process, whether it be acting or making a painting, the truth rises from the work by sheer luck no matter what medium we use, and hopefully it can be recognized for what it is.
This past spring, Pat and I put together an exhibition that looked at the idea of artifacts. We began by finding objects that were left behind and forgotten, and rendered them in various mediums. We asked ourselves if they were representative of a specific time or place and if that object was a leftover piece of something telling of some event or practice that occurred long ago. As we began to assemble ideas for the exhibition we looked at artifacts as historic objects, but things changed quickly and we began to see them as contemporary leftovers. What started out as a view into the long forgotten past transformed itself and emerged unexpectedly into something very current, and we found ourselves floating downstream, trusting the waters. It felt as though these found objects held within them silent voices, and we needed to listen quietly, as does the medium in a seance.
The medium is in the mind’s eye. We can use it as we see fit and with any luck it will give us answers to questions we never asked. In a 1989 UMVA newsletter (for the months of January, February, and March), a contributor who went by the moniker “The Cranky Old Man” writes that one March morning he found animal tracks in the mud that “moved in sequence, obviously the same one creature dancing up and down the ditchside, but each track was unique, as if the animal had changed form one hundred times. Hooves turned into bird’s feet and cat-pads and five-toed girl footprints.” The Cranky Old Man saw that mud as the medium used by some creature the night before. He was ever so observant and saw something beautiful in it, patterns made by the footprints of an animal artist. The medium was in his mind’s eye and he took note.
All of this suggests the need to remain open in the hope of finding something truthful. Here’s a quote from another Mainer, Stephen King: “The truth has to come out, that’s the basis of art. But that’s not to say the world must see it. Be brave.”
All the best, from the West of Ireland.
Image at top: image from the UMVA newsletter, 1989.