Simple Beauty- texture, colour and moss

Cambodian Textures

“There’s a texture to her skin-

Mud, concrete, corrugated tin,

Pieces of clothing and patches of blue,

Scraped up together to create something new.

Layer upon layer she has been built up,

and up out of the ashes she will rise.”

The textures that make up Cambodia’s urban landscape continue to inspire me just as much today as they originally did 3 years ago, when on an internship I wrote part of the poem quoted above. It seems that every region and country has its own distinct areas of simple beauty. When I’m in India I am overwhelmed by the brilliant colours and when I am in Cambodia my senses delight in the layers of differing textures. We have to have our eyes open to simple beauty though, otherwise it’s easy to miss that crack in the ground with a small flower growing out of it or the way that the colour of the graffiti on that cement wall really compliments the color of the tin siding. There is visual beauty to be found in every neighborhood, no matter how ‘drab’ it might appear to a world which more often than not apprecations smooth, linear perfection. If beauty truly is in they eye of the beholder, then what simple thing will you choose to take a moment to behold in your neighborhood today?

Indian Colours

Eastside of Vancouver

The other weekend myself and a friend from Servants decided to try out the moss painting experiment going around on pinterest. If it works we are excited to grow simple words all over back alleys. I’ll keep you posted if it actually grows. I thought it was a fitting image to share with you today though!