The Stories that Travelled

Once they are shared, stories can travel in surprising ways and for great distances. This is the tale of how two stories told to a friend while we were sitting in the sand on the west coast of BC landed on the wall of an art gallery in Michigan.

My friend Esther Shalev-Gerz is a contemporary artist who often works with video. She was visiting the west coast from her home in Paris, France, and we were catching up on each other’s lives since our last visit. While we talked, Esther was filming, so the camera was rolling while I told two particular stories. The first story was about a woman who had attended one of my voice workshops. (A Voice in the Darkness) The other story was about the death of my husband, Paul Horn.

Little did I know that when Esther returned to Paris she would transform the telling of these two stories into two unique art pieces that she calls video diptychs. She named them Blue Pneuma and Golden Pneuma. Esther chose those names because pneuma is an ancient Greek word for breath as a vital spirit, a soul or a creative force. Her videos blend images of me telling the stories with photographs of nature. In my story about Paul’s death, eroding desert rocks are seen. In the story about a woman’s voice being lost and then found, erosion on the shores of the Salton Sea are featured. The blended imagery shows the likenesses and differences between nature and the human experience.

While she was working on the videos, Esther was preparing for a major exhibit of her work that was taking place at an art gallery in Detroit. She decided to include Blue Pneuma and Golden Pneuma in the show, and said that as people watched the videos, some wept, some were speechless, and some breathed out deep sighs. If, like me, you missed Esther’s show, you can view the videos on Esther’s website or below.

I never imagined that the stories I told would be transformed in such a sensitive, creative way. But perhaps I am not surprised. Stories have a life of their own. They travel. The woman in my workshop told me her story. I shared it with Esther, along with my story about Paul. She then communicated the stories as her art form. Perhaps one day this story will travel on through you. You never know. Stories are like that. They trouble, inspire, teach, and touch us to see the world with greater awareness.