Reflections of the travels

*For every memory that I recall, acts like a catalyst of change*

How different was the world to what I came to know through the words of the people I met online. It couldn't prepare me to how different everything felt, every observation and detail that my eyes would pick up felt like a whole new discovery. Life and people have changed, unfamiliarly so. Through the four months of the first traveling journey I saw and felt a lot that drastically shifted my perception of my reality of this world. While expressed through the travelling art and poetry sections and the blog posts, I kept outpouring the feelings I felt within while I was witnessing changes take place. I was able to observe a variety of emotions that left me feeling baffled on how much I didn't know. Every sentence that I began in my studio long ago, secluded up in the mountains in explaining the world, had to be revisited and changed completely. An eye opening journey that when pondered in a span of the four months, it feels like years, but when allowed to just exists, questions such as "Did that even happen" comes prominently in my mind.

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The Witness

I witnessed beauty above all, walks of life that I could never be exposed in my isolation. Amazed was I to see life spralling uncontrollably in all directions, people living and going about their days. The hours that I would spend behind a painting, or in contemplation I would witness these people enjoy their friends and walking regardless of reason. Coming from their long work weeks, a necessity to socialize was apparent in their day. Smiles and laughter would echo in the cities of The Netherlands, combined with ambience of bike sounds with bird chirps and geese and ducks, muffled by dutch that set a peculiar communication system of sounds. I remember my first day in the country, it was around 6:30 am when I began walking the streets on a Saturday. No one could be seen around except family of ducks and geese plucking away at the patch of grasses searching for food, whiles others would cross the roads in a fixated straight line, one after the other. I found that quite funny as at first I envisioned the city being runned by them, which that was oddly comforting. As the only currency they would accept and go crazy over was bread cramps, which this country had an abundance of. I climbed this artificial hill on top of the library in Delft, and I began seeing the already started sunrise. The sky at the time seemed so familiar, no clouds to be seen but a golden drop in the endless prussian blue. The rays of the sun would warm me up, welcoming me to the north, the sky looked as if I was back in Cyprus, to which my brain was confused if I was still there. Frantically and sentimentally bringing the memories I had in the four years that I lived in Cyprus. Bringing back flash memories of the people I met online, to the deeper connection that I made with my grandfather and parents. To the joy that I was alive and privileged to have the chance to be here, to be underneath this sky and have nothing but myself to fill the hours till the shift in time that brought the sun to sleep. Marking the long journey ahead of being a traveler, trying to understand the world for what it is, through the eyes of a keen observer.

*The picture of the blue sky, on top of that artificial hill with the metal constracter star being the tip of the library*

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An array of reflections

For once I was so closed off from the world, so much so that I resented having to see people or even talk to them, to once again be able to open up to the idea of being around them and facing uncertainty without a care in my mind felt like a perk that I shouldn't take for granted. To the many people I met over these four months and the conversations I had with them, their worries and fears and priorities seemed so fascinating to me. All of them had many things in common, but very few with me. I didn't care for a career, or being liked nor if my boss or coworker indirectly or directly caused me to feel shitty during the day. I couldn't relate to the consumerist approach of showcasing my emotions through acts of material gain nor measuring my success if I was earning enough to be out of debt or closer to buying my dream house. If I would comfortably make my monthly payments without having to cut things out of my life or plan a dream vacation in the allocated days that I was allowed to have for myself. All their time would be consumed by their occupation, left spend and exhausted to ever pursue any form of personal development away from their work. Upon further questioning they would all want to do so many varied things to explore and understand themselves better, but never getting around to do that, be it by a long list of excuses or the lack of energy and time. Perhaps it was a privilege of mine to be able to be free of such worries but my mind was occupied with a different array of thoughts. A constant worry if the food I was eating was actually food and not something tempered with, to the joy that I took for granted in tasting and enjoying the fruits and vegetables that I was raised from; the clean air and solitude that I had in those mountains and how stupidly expensive getting a slice of that was here in the north. The ridiculous prices that everything has turn out to be, promising quality that was never met, leaving you frustratedly scammed and taken advantage off on such empty words. To the connections that I wanted to make but people being too exhausted to reciprocate or too scared to ever trust a 'stranger' of no common circles to ever engage with. Timidness being at its all time high for people to communicate, even when the desire to do so arised, it was quenched conveniently by their phone between their thumbs, sheltering them away from reality, placing them in their personal and fortified bubbles. In all of this I took heed upon, the broken desires and the dysfunctional communication that conveniently was always excused for something. Thus, I took inspiration in the documentation of these ailments that we all had in common; desires to pursue our personal and intimate interests but always spending our energy onto labeled 'necessities' that left us feeling unhappy and desiring something that conveniently social media would accommodate. Leaving us just the perfect amount of unsatisfied to never come off it. Sparking endless comparisons in the perfectly stage lives of people putting their best thespian artistry.

* A statue in the center of The Hague; a figure sitting down, amongst his books and his assorted desk. Gazing through this massive frame of a door onto us. I imagined myself in his place, an outsider looking in onto this unfamiliar but yet so familiar place.*

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The influence in my art

*An excerpt from Iustitia, the final drawing in my Delft exploration* My art took a different turn when I started living that more vividly through the many places I visited, I felt observing just with my eyes the world and depicting it wouldn't do it justice, thus did those emotional pieces came to be, sparking my travelling art section, with intricate personal meanings that had me reflect both in my past but in my present. I remember in August was the biggest shift in this, when I had enough of moving around and in serious need of reflection and isolation. Thus did I spend the majority of August inside writing up poetry and creating elaborate story driven designs that created a marriage between different arts. Arts that I wouldn't normally showcase publicly but I felt the need to explore them now more than ever. Depicting romantic and deeply personal poems that came from my heart's longing and reflections, accompanied by music ensembles and visual illustrations to guide the viewer's imagination to the very words and music that were being used. A feeling that etched and facilitated growth in my art, witnessing its transformation take shape in these many forms. Sprawling like branches from an old tree, reaching and floating in heights that I couldn't see. Creating a visual library to be read and experienced through layers of art. As peculiar and fascinating this development was to me, I couldn't orchestrate this even if I tried. Inexplicably did I start developing in person compared to my artistic abilities which I lacked in the years of FLOW. But equally did my art keep me in check and allowed the space and tools for me to express these new and unresolved emotions that traveling brought to me. It wasn't long before I decided that I wanted to visit the place where I swore never to go back to, due to pain and trauma I endured and learned. With such newfound tools to elaborate and guide my voice, surely this would be the healthy resolution I was hoping for. Thus I did, I went there and as the blog 'Limitless space of past and present' suggested, I had closure. A feeling of ownership and accountability of my naivety was established in the years that I lived in the UK, naturally so being even younger then. But to resolve this unexpectedly, left me with a joy that I didn't think would come from such place. It prompted me in what I am beginning to work on now, the new short story " The Stonemason" a story that takes place around this figure in his old age, uncovering his life through his statues and surroundings. Represented in a unique and creative way on how the layers of story would commence and be delivered to the observer. Using all the tools and lessons I learned through my travels.

*Some noteworthy details my eyes pointed at me as I was exploring The Netherlands*

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Epilogue Landing me back to my studio, working towards the new theme 'The Stonemason' ~ vastly different to FLOW's execution. For now my concerns are in elaborating and documenting the sensitive and emotionally rich undertones that this new short story has. Adding as much as life that I breathed through my travels in it. Gathering and using all the knowledge and artistry that the countries I visited allowed me to soak in. A new journey is about to begin, in exploring a new story that I felt and got inspired by witnessing the "new world" with open eyes. In hopes of giving tools and methods to keen viewers and listeners to use and express through their lives, in understanding and uncovering parts of themselves through the many layers in art. Uniquely archiving the process through an array of methods in bridging the gaps of the artist and the viewer. As for the second leg of my travels, as close to the horizon as that looks, my mind and heart will focus on the story for the time being. For who knows in the months to come in questioning and delving in this new story can bring. To what state my mind will be left in the troubles and victories that may be faced. Mayhap the second trip might be a change of continents, witnessing the true "new world"...

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