The trees swayed in the glazed moonlight. And just as the winds began to howl in the velvety sky, displacing the starry specter, disassociating the moonlight, she captured the eerie sight in the lens. The scene panned out as I realized how a photograph became a painting now hung in MOMA. I was fixated by the strange tranquil, emanating through the tumultuous scene. Moved by this visual force, I wondered, what is creativity? How does a feeling transcend to an interpretation?
A few days later, I was listening to Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” while scrolling through my Facebook feed. “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind.” Mulling over these famous lines, I realized how creativity liberates our senses yet evoking meaningful ideas in the process.
Perhaps dissecting a more relevant example would help clarify. “I took the path less traveled by, and that has made all the difference…” Frost paints a picture of a trail diverging in the woods. But the interpretation transcends to our life choices, dilemmas. The beauty of art forms is often measured via their power to evoke our perception by connecting the seemingly ordinary to the extraordinary. Sometimes the subtle the connection, the deeper its effect. Maybe creativity is about forging a powerful impact on the human psyche through sensory perception and pertinency.
Additionally, creativity exudes another medium. Science, one of the building blocks of the world around us. Art and science have been historically polarized platforms, distinct in terms of interpretation, realization; while the artistic creativity is open-ended, the science one has specific meaning behind everything. While one appropriates logic-based thinkers, the other also lauds abstract minds.
And yet, necessity breeds both fuelled further by imagination. It all begins with a distinct idea, an outlandish thought. Perhaps creativity is the product of mental processes churning ways to express this idea. This product could be in the form of scientific discoveries, artistic platforms, or even through an apt meme. In essence they are all methods of addressing an unfulfilled purpose or an unmet need. For example - Facebook was developed to connect people throughout the globe, “Blowing in the Wind” was written to recognize this connection across humanity. Both addressing that humanity is beyond geographical or racial barriers.
Unveiling the mystery, creativity is really just solving a problem, inspiring an unfulfilled purpose through multiple mediums weaved around us.
Perhaps, the cryptic image at MOMA reflected the fortitude in a calm mind amidst a storm, something we all need right now….
