When was the last time you considered how your brain works?
This may seem an odd question, and probably it is. I ask, though, because of an experience I had this week. I was viewing an installation by the artist Christina Zwart (pictured above), titled, Tuition, Room & Board, Miscellaneous Fees (Pizza Not Included), which is showcased in a building in Harvard Square owned by Harvard University. As an artist, Zwart connects seemingly unconnected details to create a bigger picture. So, for the above piece, as she word associated about Harvard, �students�, �pizza�, and �tuition� successively came to mind. The result was a panel created with pizza boxes, showing the current price tag for attending Harvard, in the style of a game show.
As I thought about this piece and some others Zwart created, such as Rosekill, a photomosaic of dead animals, that from a distance becomes the image of a rose, I wondered what would happen if I allowed myself to associate in this way, writing without a plan or idea in mind. My inspiration was a quote from Chekhov, �Don�t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass,� and as my eyes rested upon the sentence, an image of shattered glass appeared. So, I wrote, �Shattered glass littered the kitchen floor,� and waited to see what would happen.
Shattered glass became a cookie jar that a mother had broken, which developed into the shattering impact of the mother�s Alzheimer�s upon both mother and daughter. It felt remarkable because I have had no personal experience of this, and did not consciously choose to write such a narrative. When I shared the piece with friends who are actually dealing with this type of life-changing circumstance, they marveled at how I had captured not only the truth of their situation but their feelings.
Somehow I had absorbed my friends� circumstance, and then, through free-association created a fictional narrative that put the reality of their struggles into words.
So my question for is: When was the last time you considered how your brain works? The creative process is an associative one, and like the art of Christina Zwart, it�s the seemingly unconnected that gives the bigger picture.
Paula Castner is a mother of three and a co-founder of Seven Bridge Writers' Collaborative as well as a freelance writer, writing and baking workshop facilitator, and drama director. She receives emails at pajamalivingwriting@gmail.com.
