Okay so by the time the world reads this I will be on continent number three of four, but right now I'm in the middle of an airport bracing myself for a flight or two to get there.
I am still reflecting on the magnitude of this month, so I will refrain from opening the chaos that is my brain at this point. I do want to draw attention to something completely different that has caught my attention repetitively as we have traveled.
During my undergrad when I wasn't reading works by Austen, Lawrence, and Shakespeare or writing papers arguing some aspect of their works, I was studying art. I spent three years specifically taking art history classes and two years in the studio doing anything from painting to graphic design. Needless to say, I love art.
As we were driving to the airport in Dehli I realized that I knew the font used on the highway road signs by name. If that doesn't make me a nerd, I'm not sure what will.
This is the thing – art is showing up everywhere. It IS everywhere. Each culture has its trademarks and little niches. Each culture has different aspects specific to that culture and those people – like the saris in India and women carrying huge baskets on their heads in Africa and of course calligraphy in china. While all of these things are different, each country has one art in common: architecture.
It's mind blowing.
Each place we go – whether major city or not – is full of it. It's so wonderful. Joberg and Cape Town are so much different from Hong Kong, Beijing, Manila, and Dehli. They are all so different and distinct, and it is incredible to see how each culture treats architecture – whether aesthetically or economically.
That's all. 🙂
Pay attention to the buildings – how they curve or stand completely straight, how they move with their surroundings, how they represent what they contain. Each culture treats these differently and I love it. 🙂
