Lebanese - American writer and poet Kahlil Gibran said these words in his 1923 book " The Prophet " on the subject of talking : " You speak when you seize to be at peace with your thoughts. " Perhaps this explains the need we have as humans to seek the silence nature so often offers us. Nature calms us, speaks to us, without words, in a language that encourages, that heals , that understands. She has this way to inspire us with her beauty, her majesty, her generosity, her wisdom. A soul sensitive to these virtues is capable of expressing these virtues through art.
Nature photographer Lotfi Bouslah of Lolo Pics is such a soul, an artist who understands the language of silence. Blessed with a generous nature and an open and tolerant heart, Lotfi Bouslah shared a photo on December 8th, with the group Mer, Montagne, Nature, that is a precious example of this capacity to communicate nature's profound spirit. It is a photo of a sunset on the beach of Azemour at Aokas, Bejaia, with the title " While the sun said to me see you later. " It is a touching scene because of the moment chosen, the moment when the ball of white fire of the sun gliding behind the dark horizon on the other bank, paints the Persian blue - grey water of the beach with a large vertical band of glittering gold light. The sky behind the white sun is a clear blue, that wraps itself around the sun in a generous gesture of the night that approaches. The golden light on the water of the beach is an enchanting presence, one would think that it is a part of the sun's spirit that floats like a shimmering text of an ancient poem on the night waters, sharing its mysteries. The sun exchanges his warmth of the day for the cold and uncertainty of the black night, but he leaves us with the gift of his golden light reflected in the water, parched for his beauty and his passion. It is a very beautiful photo, that as is often the case with the photos of Lotfi Bouslah, tells a story that invites the imagination and a rich and complex reverie. One imagines the richness of a fairy tale, a story of courage and triumph on behalf of two lovers separated by the laws of nature during the day, that attain magical powers with the arrival of sunset. It is the fairy tale of the water nymph Naiada, who bathes every evening in the golden light so that her lover the sun can take her with him before night fall. The sun waits impatiently for the nymph, because the sky demands the rule of night, and the sun gives as much of his golden light as possible, his heart anxious in case the nymph Naiada does not arrive in time, and the night devours what is left of the enchanted light. The nymph manages to evade her jealous suitor, who has found out about her love for the sun, and Naiada arrives just in time to receive the golden light and to melt into the arms of the setting sun. At dawn, the nymph finds herself alone once more, and waits until the arrival of the golden light of her lover the sun, so he can bring fire to the water of the sunset, to allow the nymph to unite herself with him like the night before, with his golden light and his shimmering flowing passion. The colours of this photograph are magnificent, I think of the famous painting of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, " The Kiss ". The reflection in the water of the setting sun's light seems painted in the same way, in gold leaf, on the smooth blue surface of the water. The sun reflected in the water has as its most notable symbolism the power of purification and transformation, like in my fairy tale, where the water nymph is transformed and absorbed into the energy and the passion of the sun, and where the water and the fire unite thanks to the trans formative courage of love. The dominant colours of gold and Persian blue - grey make me think of the 1889 painting " Starry Night " of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh ( 1853 - 1890 ). " Starry Night " is also dominated by these two colours, and is a painting that like the photo of Lotfi Bouslah vibrates with the agony and ecstasy of passion. In both cases, light battles against the dark, in the case of the painting by Vincent van Gogh, it is the moon that defends against the dark, and in the case of Lotfi Bouslah's photo, it is the sun that hurries to gain the advantage over the night. It is striking, this similarity in energy and passion in both examples : a Dutch painter with the soul of a tortured genius, and a Berber nature photographer, who also has the soul of a passionate genius, separated by more than a hundred years, but united in vision and love for their art.
As long as there is light, seems to be the philosophy of Lotfi Bouslah, who is the age Vincent van Gogh was at the height of his artistic creativity. There is a stubborn conviction in the art of both artists : it is art that saves from ourselves, the madness of the world will never touch the purity of the creative soul who surrenders his soul and body to the passion of his vision. During his brief tortured life, Vincent van Gogh looked for peace in the rural nature of the Provence in France. The intense soul and heart of Lotfi Bouslah find peace and meaning in his vibrant and unique photos of Algeria's nature's generosity, and knows how to communicate this artistic and emotional balance that eluded the Dutch artist. May the sun and the moon always agree, like in a happy fairy tale, and continue to bless the vibrant creative soul and heart of the nature photographer.
Trudi Ralston
The research on the symbolism of the sun on water, on the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, and on the water nymphs of Greek mythology, courtesy of Wikipedia.
The fairy tale of the water nymph Naiada, courtesy of my literary imagination. The name Naiada is derived form the fact that the water nymphs in Greek mythology were named Naiades.
No comments:
Post a Comment