#10 - "THE JOURNEY"
January 8, 2009
Joe left to go back to Chicago at 2:00 AM. Right now, he’s probably flying over Europe heading towards Zurich, his layover. Now, without him our biggest problem is: Who will carry the camera? Claudia’s newest Canon gadget weighs about what a three-year-old should. It starts to feel like one too. It constantly needs attention. “Where’s the camera?” “Does it have its lens?” “Has it been downloaded?” “What’s its battery life?” It is the biggest burden Joe donned on the trip and arguably the most important.
When I tell people about my buying trip adventures with Primitive everyone automatically blurts out the same response, “Oh my god! You are so lucky!” And I reply with, “Yes, I am. I know.” But I do believe few people understand the weight of a trip. Not just of the camera or of our bags, but the mental weight too. Yesterday, when we were in Jaipur buying statues, a gang of kids surrounded us and voluntarily became our entourage. They performed for us wanting only high-fives and pictures of themselves in return. They delighted at the sight of their own image reflected back at them. That moment was great. It might emerge at the end of the trip as one of the highlights.
"YOUNGER KIDS"
Afterward I thought about those kids. I’m not sure where they went, but their image will forever be fixed in my head and locked into digital film. And that night, in my hotel room, I reflected on the human side of the story told by the objects presented at Primitive. It is not always evident. Typically, it is left to the viewer’s imagination, but it is there nonetheless if one chooses to imagine. Like a digital record, each and every object tells its story in an endless series of impressions, yet all say the same thing. They have been on a journey. In fact, they continue to be, and so do I.
"MORE KIDS"
Joe left to go back to Chicago at 2:00 AM. Right now, he’s probably flying over Europe heading towards Zurich, his layover. Now, without him our biggest problem is: Who will carry the camera? Claudia’s newest Canon gadget weighs about what a three-year-old should. It starts to feel like one too. It constantly needs attention. “Where’s the camera?” “Does it have its lens?” “Has it been downloaded?” “What’s its battery life?” It is the biggest burden Joe donned on the trip and arguably the most important.
When I tell people about my buying trip adventures with Primitive everyone automatically blurts out the same response, “Oh my god! You are so lucky!” And I reply with, “Yes, I am. I know.” But I do believe few people understand the weight of a trip. Not just of the camera or of our bags, but the mental weight too. Yesterday, when we were in Jaipur buying statues, a gang of kids surrounded us and voluntarily became our entourage. They performed for us wanting only high-fives and pictures of themselves in return. They delighted at the sight of their own image reflected back at them. That moment was great. It might emerge at the end of the trip as one of the highlights.
With a population of a billion and growing, Indian children, especially those growing up on the streets of India encounter a bleak future. Fortunately it seems they cared less about future and live in the moment actually getting to enjoy the innocence of youth.
I guess it must be a little frustrating how detached the consumer must be from the the products you have sourced but then every item in the world is manufactured by someone's son & has a story behind them. It takes blogs like this that create an association between the consumer and the story behind the products.
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