Arriving from the Zagros Mountains of Iran to the Castle of Grillemont in France. Two distinct worlds, yet both holding the same stillness, nature, and disconnect. Zagros, a challenge to one’s physical body, a testament of endurance within a raw harsh environment and now Grillemont, a challenge to one’s patience, a testament of endurance within a consistent calamity. In the past month, I lived every day with my colleagues, with no time to take a break from one another and in constant motion. Now a new team is introduced where again we will live together yet in only one place, with a schedule where we practice our individualism together instead of our coming together for survival. There is no urgency but our discussions of life, purpose, and philosophy seem to trigger that similar sense of urgency, in our thoughts. So much similarity in so much difference.
“I’m the hero of a story
Abbas Kiarostami
Which has neither a story
Or a hero”
How easily life comes and goes, adds and subtracts, moves forward or stands still. It constantly offers stories where heroes, faces keep changing. Yet at the end of it, all something remains a value. How this value is interpreted, maybe through a name, form or character is then up to us.