It’s never really enough, is it? We’re just kidding ourselves when we say it is. Or maybe it is, until it isn’t. But it never isn’t very long, is it? I mean when was the last time you had enough? Mostly we just go on repeat. I mean look how big Tik Tok is, and there isn’t much there. Or rather there’s a lot of nothing.

Ed White described mankind’s first space walk with words like “unbelievable” “ooohhh” “there she goes” and “beautiful-beautiful.” Words which gave no one a picture or a thought at all. Despite the fact that he found the whole experience so exhilarating they had trouble persuading him to come back inside. After that they hired a poet to teach them to say something which other people could make a picture of. Then they came up with things like “magnificent desolation”. This, from a hard-boiled fighter pilot.

But to really put your thumb on it, to tack it to the wall with meaning, to sum it up, you have to practice with those few words, and fold them back over on themselves until like a Japanese blade they gain an edge.

But once you’ve gained the edge, a couple of things may happen: the edge will go blunt if you don’t use it, or you may grow bored with the perfection you yourself perfected. It was the latter with me. I know I’m supposed to describe something with my words, but now I’ve added colour-coded meaning, and succumbed to riotous repetition, like a pop song.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but I’m not quite doing pictures either. So I’m swapping meaning with colour and keeping 3-5 words just in case. I know it won’t do forever, and it’s never enough but for now, who cares, it keeps me happy all summer without any plans.

Fredrik

Look at recent gallery prints