Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Not So Ordinary
The ordinary things that we see are easy to pass by. We take them for granted and move on to whatever is next. But maybe if we allow ourselves to look at things differently, we may notice something new about the usual.
I like to take a walk each day. It’s a simple exercise that gets me out of the house and helps me to see beyond my own walls. Most of the time I just follow the same routine and see the same things though every now and then I’m startled to see a different view of something ordinary.
On one of our trips, the woman who cleaned the rooms put out towels on our bed that looked like swans! It perked us up after a busy, tiring day and encouraged us to be present to what we were seeing.
The ordinary can be calming because we don’t have to pay it any attention but viewing things in a new way can help us expand ourselves and have fun at the same time.
Artist Helga Stentzel looks at things from a wonderfully wider perspective:
https://www.helgastentzel.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
About
Helga Stentzel is a multidisciplinary artist based in London, UK. She works across a wide range of media including photography, illustration, videography, sculpture and mural design.
Helga received “Food Art Creator of the Year” award in 2020 and has collaborated with Hermes, Amazon, BBC, Honda and O2, among others. She participated in multiple group exhibitions in New York and London, and held a solo show in Seoul in 2022.
A St. Martins alumna, Helga worked in the advertising industry and ran a children’s clothing business before becoming a full-time artist.
https://www.helgastentzel.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Copyright Ferida Wolff
Goodbye Tree
My neighborhood was built up fifty years ago on what was then an apple orchard. Houses were constructed, gardens were planned, people moved in. Maple and oak trees were planted on the grass at the curb in front of each house. Everything looked fresh and growing. We moved in years later, delighted by all that we saw.
But things move on. The trees grew tall and broad and provided the streets with welcome shade on hot summer days. Sometimes, though, their roots pulled up the sidewalk cement. Sometimes their branches rose high up to the wires that provided the houses with electricity. Recently, a crew was out sawing away at one of the mature trees. When the work was finished, the thick branches and sawed trunk lay on the street, a reminder of how big the tree had grown.
It was sad. I thanked the tree for sharing its life within our community for so long. Then looking beyond, I could see that new trees, self-planted, were rising down the block. It was a reminder that even though there are challenges, life can be resilient.
Copyright Ferida Wolff
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