BACK TO ‘SLOW WRITING’

Ashok SILWAL

A photo or a letter?
A picture or some words?
A video or a newspaper article?
An image or a mail?
The answer is quite obvious
In our increasingly visual communication system.
An undeniably faster process,
More immediate,
That colours and shapes make easier,
Perhaps more effective;
Or instead more ambiguous:
The photographer sometimes
Didn’t want to give the message
That whoever watches receives..
Nonetheless, today, images, pictures, video,
Are more and more the vehicle of
Our moods, our feelings, our emotions.
We are less and less capable
Of using words to describe a sunrise or a sunset,
We find fewer and fewer words
To express what we feel inside.
The image requires less effort ,less time.
If I want to send my relatives
And idea of my happy little son,
I don’t start looking for words;
I take ten photographs,
I will choose the most beautiful and send…
All happy…

We have lost the concentration of writing
The pleasure of searching and finding
The right word.
We have become lazy,
Our brain can no longer
Express in words our heart…
Yes! It is true:
Photography is a language too;
But on a common and not artistic level
The words that required
More effort, more precision, more attention,
They remain deeplier engraved.
Smartphones, tablets….allowed us
To take “hundreds” of photos
Which can be looked at quickly to get an idea.

TECHNICAL TOOLS HAVE MADE PEN AND PAPER FALL FROM OUR HANDS …

Perhaps it is a slightly too caricatural vision..
Certainly, despite this reflection,
I’m the first to take a hundred photos to send then one!
It’s more comfortable, it is faster;
I won’t have elaborated but I said what I wanted!

Let’s not let ourselves be attacked by laziness
But.. let’s not even give up images, photographs,
Pictures and video on our smartphones!
Everynow and then , let’s return
To writing, to the poetry of words,
And , as “ slow food” is fashionable today,
Let’s enjoy “ SLOW WRITING”!

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