It’s been a month of important dates – birthdays and anniversaries, culminating in a family reunion. With my mother and her twin turning 70, and my brother turning 40, our families got together for the first time in a decade. In ten years, we lost one and gained nine, bringing our number up to 25.
After two nights eating, sleeping, cooking, laughing, crying and reminiscing under one roof, we all dispersed back to our busy lives. Months of planning and, suddenly, there’s nothing left but a sensory impression of what was…
There is something non-linear about reunion.
As if all the parts, once removed, don’t reassemble how they were.
You’re home and yet, you don’t quite know your place.
There’s a bending of reality.
A girl pointing the finger.
Where do we start?
There’s many a slip in our perception
Of What Once Was versus What Is.
Site shift.
Family.
Memories playing tricks.
What we thought was locked in the museum
Reappears.
Is there a passage secret to
The way that we diminish and ascend?
We fetch the ghosts of our past
But find ourselves washed up
East of the mulberry tree.
Plastic people, in a plastic world.
We laugh and, under a shared weight, ask
For more information about the images, click here.
Alarna Rose Gray 
“You’re home and yet, you don’t quite know your place.” Whew. Isn’t that the truth.
Thanks for the perspective, the art, and the sea.
My pleasure to share… What would we do without Art and Sea?
Plastic people in a plastic world…under a shared weight. That got my brain wheels turning. Thanks, Alarna. Super cool pics by the way.
I love when the brain wheels turn! Those sculptures did it for me, too…Thank you 🙂
Wow, Alarna what a creative way to tell us about your family reunion. Love those pictures!
Thanks, Catherine! 🙂
I hope it was a really special time. What a beautiful, interesting and thought-provoking set of images you used to explore this special reunion x
It really was a special time. It’s amazing how it all comes together in the end… A beautiful kind of organised chaos 😉 Thank you!
Brilliant! What a wonderful post. 🙂
Thank you! For me, it was a happy coincidence the pics reflected something of my mixed emotions re: family. So glad you liked it 🙂
What an amazing post Alarna. Love the pics and the words that went with them. So subtle and sensitive… and a brilliantly oblique way of conveying the feelings about your re-union…
Wonderful light in all the pics…
Thanks Valerie, you always get where I’m coming from 😉 There’s nothing better to me than the interplay between nature and art to say what can’t be said… Xox
Love the art. Each one got me thinking about its origin — how do people come up with such amazing ideas and then actually turn them into concrete visuals? You did a nice job linking your thoughts along with the images, too. 🙂
It’d be cool to take a walk through some of these artists brains, wouldn’t it? 🙂
Love the pictures!
Memory is a funny thing. A couple of weeks ago, I met someone who used to be a neighbor who reminisced. Some of his memories never happened. Since they were happy ones, who was I to tell him he was thinking of someone else???? Ha!
Glad you got together!
Haha… good for him, at least the memories were happy ones! Kind of a compliment to you, too, right? 🙂
That’s how I took it!
25? My oh my! If my mother dies, which I think might happen during the next 10 years, I will probably end up being an orphan. How about adoption, faraway aunt?
Fabulous sculptures.
Poor nephew! You must be adopted immediately and visit sunny Australia!
I shall procure summer hats and a parasol. And maybe I shall purchase a surf board too!
Interesting pics… the one that intrigued me the most was with the caption: “The way that we diminish and ascend?”, and the one just below that.
They really take you for a trip, don’t they? The names given to them intrigued me almost as much as the sculptures themselves!
This post is brilliant Alarna. You always have such a fantastic way for telling a story. These sculptures are so interesting and intriguing.
Rita! You always make me feel good…Yes, those sculpture are indeed arresting, especially with all that blue sky as a backdrop! Hope you’re enjoying our few days of actual Sun 🙂
I can relate to what you said about the parts not necessarily coming together the way they once did — that’s actually one of the (admittedly few) aspects of family reunions I like, because it’s interesting to me to see people grow and thus to disrupt the preexisting “family system.”
Totally agree with you, Chris! Refreshing to know that things don’t always stay the same… Or that maybe our perceptions were skewed to begin with 🙂
As always Alarna a true treat coming to your blog. Those pics we’re unbelievable & make me think what I always have. How neat it would be to see the world thru Alarna’s eyes. I’m hoping Inion will read this & be inspired. Her High School reunion is coming up & I’ve done everything I can to encourage her to go. (well except for grounding her which I can no longer do thx to her age.lol) I don’t get it. She’s lost 110 pounds since then; published 3 books & is very happy in her life. But she’s adamant & won’t bend. Coarse me, I think it’s important so hopefully this will rub off on her. Or she’ll yell at me for bringing it up. Lmao. Either way, I enjoyed taking part in yours.
High school reunion…now that takes it to a whole new level! To be honest, I’ve not been brave enough to go there yet…for some reason family seems less intimidating 🙂 But it sounds like the gorgeous young Inion has nothing to lose by going, so maybe she will surprise you yet? So glad you enjoyed the view 😉 xo
i love this abstract post! So thought provoking Alarna! xx
Glad you enjoyed it, lovely Liz 🙂 xo
perfect, gorgeous photos to convey your thoughts and feelings. Very powerful, yet sensitive at the same time. What a brilliant post. Love.
Those sculptures remind me of the purpose of art in the first place – to say what words can’t. Glad to share it – thank you 🙂
I like what you said about the removed parts not reassembling or fitting again. When my grandmother died, we stopped getting together as an extended family. She was the center of gravity.
It’s like we all have a role to play that nobody else can fill. I can imagine how you must miss her…
Really great art and cutlines to go with them.
Appreciate the visit, thank you!
You paint a beautiful picture of reunion, Alarna.
Also, nice to meet you!
Ah, thank you. I merely pay homage to the people with real talent 😉 Lovely to meet you, too!
Those were amazing pictures! And the things you said about reuniting with your family very much reminded me of what it was like to return home after traveling for the better part of a year. So much different, so much the same.
Quite the mind f*k, hey? Question is, who has changed and who has stayed the same?
Gah, yes. I think that was the weirdest thing for me… to find that some people were still worried or obsessing over the same small issue while so much seemed to have happened and changed in the meantime.
Oh, yes, tell me about it! 🙂 I realised with horror that maybe the issues from the sandpit never get resolved
hello, Alarna… just dropping by to say hi. thanks for the visit. will come back for longer comments. 🙂 hope you are well, dear…
haha, may i say that the series is playful as well as artistically done? yes, it is… 🙂 hello, Alarna. hey, you were supposed to be enjoying the beach, nottaking pics and thinking of captions to put in. what the… 😉
Hehe 🙂 True, true. But what is one to do when they are in need of blog material? 😉 Thanks San!