It’s funny, the things that set us on our way, isn’t it? In retrospect, the stars the guide us seem almost accidental, incidental. Were we to have been born in another city, a year or two earlier or later, with this book and not that on our parents’ shelf, might we have been entirely different people? Lived different lives, held other beliefs, chased alternative goals, dreamed of different gods? I don’t know. I remember with crazy intensity the books in my mom’s bookcase — a big, deep, blonde thing with wicker sides: a monster monograph of Da Vinci’s work; an hoary old copy of The Agony and the Ecstasy; lots and lots of Picasso; and of course our beloved Sister Corita. My mom had gone to grad school at UCLA for art, and was (is, if and when she still does it) a painter, collagist, designer, and had stacks of books that, seen with the advantage of time, made a huge impact on my life, on what I value, what I aspired to. My mom is/was also an incredible scrapbook maker and it must have been through her that, in the mid nineties, when I was in high school, I came across Dan Eldon’s The Journey is the Destination — and incredible collection of images and stories from his youthful roadtripping around southern and eastern Africa collaged together in the most exciting, vibrant scrapbook format I’d ever seen.
In the months leading up to the release of my Peter Beard book, I talked a lot about the fact that I came to PB through Eldon, that it was Eldon’s work that first shaped my idea about art and Africa and life that led very directly to my understanding and appreciation of Peter. And now, a year later, after having made my own sort of madcap trip around southern and eastern Africa, following in Eldon’s footsteps (whether consciously or not), I realize how much his distant, symbolic example shaped my ideas about who I wanted to be and how I wanted to live. Imagine. A (granted, spectacular) book hits me at a very impressionable time, and, almost 30 years later, I go throwing away my life and health and savings in a sort of subtle pursuit of its spirit. Had it been a book about skateboarding or street art would I instead be thinking about airwalks and fat caps now instead of a safari camp in Zimbabwe? Ha, life. Anyway the first snippet of images from my Cape Town to Cairo trip — along with a story about Eldon’s influence — is our now in the new issue of 10 Magazine. (I will link to if and when) I can’t wait for you to see it. Happy Saturday xoxo
Sweet words about your sweet mom!