Thursday 25 April 2013

spring cleaning
















and what if the oldest shoes are the dearest?
with more precision and more truthfulness than our memory, they keep track, in each crack and dirt mark and dust-blackened spot, of what we have learned to call "our life", "our past" - though nobody knows exactly to whom this past, this life, belong.

with tenderness, the old shoes stare back at us, while we, gentle hypocrites or simply forgetful, unable to glimpse beyond our self-woven illusions, never take notice.













32 comments:

  1. I would love to walk a mile in your shoes, Roxana - and see the world through your eyes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. myth, understanding my photos as you do - means "seeing the world through my eyes", i think - i am so grateful that we can share such visions of worlds nowadays, thanks to the internet...

      Delete
  2. Oh the tales our shoes would tell! I wish I had kept every pair I've ever owned. Especially the ones from Carnaby Street in 1966 London! Or those lime green platform sandals I bought when I was living in Granada...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. are there any paintings or drawings you made of showing those shoes, Lynne?

      Delete
  3. Delicioso, Roxana, verdaderamente delicioso...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gracias, Wolfang, "delicioso" es una palabra que me gusta mucho :-)

      Delete
  4. acum voiam sa ies putin,sunt mai mult de 30 de grade afara,nu voiam sa pierd niciunul-si ma gandeam sa iau acesti pantofi-da,cu acele cuie batute in talpi,cuie care,cum spui tu,pastreaza memoria a ceea ce eu am uitat(astfel de ganduri m-au strabatut mereu zilele astea,incarcate de miticul 30:) ).
    si astept clipele cand tenisii,acum noi,imi vor spune povesti pe care le voi uita,desi as vrea sa nu uit niciodata cum sa strabat drumurile...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. miticul 30!!! şi eu răspund chiar astăzi la cuvintele tale :-)

      mă bucur că îţi plac, draga mea, aceste imagine, au fost ele atât de spontane, nu? :-)

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. something magical about both of them, isn't it, fff?

      Delete
  6. For some reason, Roxana, I am having a problem posting here...although, all comments are subject to your approval, so, maybe you didn't get to my comment yet. But, I was just saying,...you are special...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Why are there no comments, yet?
    These images are stark and beautiful in the same way that an abattoir can be. Surgical. I find the text similarly gripping and cutting. The shoes feel fleshy. The hand decisive and full of blood. Her face engaged in something critical. The light is harsh day. For me, this is a piece where I leave feeling self-reflective, and "convicted" not harshly, but cleanly, clearly. a

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you so much, a. your words are deeply appreciated, "cleanly, clearly", is the feeling i wished one would get, despite the heaviness of the past one always carries within.

      Delete
  8. i am sorry, i am travelling now hence the delay on the Bridge...

    i will be back soon, meanwhile i wish you all a beginning of may full of flowers and warm light...

    ReplyDelete
  9. a woman who likes old shoes!..I simply don't believe it!! sorry!
    b.

    ReplyDelete
  10. life is made when barefoot as well -
    perhaps the most important part of it.
    the rest could be just vanity, no?

    thank you for these thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. can we still imagine a barefoot life nowadays, Tanja? i am trying to imagine it, and i am not sure i can... but i am dreaming of walking barefoot in the grass, in the morning dew... or on the beach, as you undoubtedly, do everyday :-)

      Delete
  11. hello my beautiful friend, oooooooooooooh Roxana how you spoil us with your masterpeices.I agree with anonymous that there is something surgical going on here yes it is for me a cutting edge of examination that is apparently concrete yes and the palpability of the shoes lends itself to the concreteness of the idea but this concreteness is so profound that it cannot contain itself in any materialitical way the path leads to abstraction and yes now as I travel these words I consider that there really are no abstract and concrete reflections that the two flow together in a smooth harmoniousness as the pale blue waters of the reverrential rivers rise to become the mist shrouding the mountains of our salvation flowing through the temples of our minds and yes I believe in this moment that the cracks and dirt and dust blackened spots exist in the mind that the bewitching goddess of the floating bridge of dreams has empowered the material world with the relentless sensitiviy of the all powering mindvisiion.

    I do lots of walking to get to where I want to go the necessity is there so I have to have good comfortable runners and when I find a pair of runners that are hardy and comfortable then I line my closet with pairs and I love to wear each pair when it is new and after having considered this post Roxana I have to admit perhaps this is my way of keeping my soul clean haha. non mais.....

    here is wishing you a beautiful spring day with many beautiful spring walks ...spring kisses

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha, keeping your soul clean that way, Madeleine, how your ritual of lining the closet with new pairs to keep you clean of the past made me smile :-) (i know you joked about it, but maybe it is also true, maybe unconsciously you aim at that with the endless new pairs :-)

      hugging, from afar

      Delete
  12. somehow this feels like the perfect Easter post.

    Nu prea mai stiu cum sa ma conectez cu oamenii - I'll have to re-learn - dar ma gandesc la tine, sa stii.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mă gândesc mult la tine, ai zis ca scrii şi nu ai mai scris, te aştept oricând, să ştii...

      dor, manu...

      Delete
  13. little r saw this and said : who is that, your sister ? (meaning my sister, the dougal)..there is some resemblance.

    anyways..have fun (of the decent type, of course)

    :-))

    b.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. really? a certain resemblance? and little r looking at my blog, now i am honoured!!! :-)

      Delete
  14. Ceci dit Roxana, sans vouloir te vexer ou autre, elles sont vraiment en très mauvais état ces ballerines !!! Je lis que tu es partie en voyage ( peut-être avec ces chaussures ? ) et j'espère que tu profites d'un très beau temps et que tu as l'occasion de voir de belles choses et de belles gens ;-)
    Pour en revenir aux chaussures, il y a des objets comme ça, on sait pas pourquoi, qui ont une valeur inestimable, celle qu'on leur donne bien évidemment ! J'ai une paire de New Balance avec lesquelles j'ai voyagé au Maroc dans des coins et recoins perdus de toute civilisation ou presque, he bien, pour moi, les garder, même en mauvais état, me donne le sentiment qu'elles portent encore avec elles les paroles échangées pendant ces voyages, ont gardées les odeurs ( pas de pieds !!! ) des différentes régions, sols foulés... Les traces qu'on laisse avec ses pas sont un peu comme des témoignages d'un passage à un moment précis de notre existence... Comme si les godasses pouvaient parler... aux autres !!! ;-) Parfois, en les regardant ou en les mettant à nouveau, je me dis que peut-être elles vont me raconter à nouveau une histoire m'amener directement dans un endroit apprécié que j'ai tellement aimé... ;-)
    Mais les chaussures, comme les sentiments, doivent se renouveler, s'émouvoir à nouveau et c'est pour ça que je te conseille de songer à une nouvelle paire de ballerines... :-) ... pour voyager à nouveau... et faire quelques frais !!! ( mais qu'est-ce que je peux raconter comme *onneries quand même )... ;-)
    Bon voyage alors Miss roxana et... à bientôt ?
    Bises...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha Jeff, quel retour au Pont, apres beaucoup de temps :-) mais non, ce n'est pas moi dans cette image, mais une tres chere amie, et donc ce n'est pas avec ces ballerines que je suis partie en voyage :-)
      mais je me rejouie de lire que tu comprends parfaitement le sentiment dont j'ai parle ici, en fait tu lui rajoute de la profondeur avec l'histoire de tes propres voyages... je me rappelle encore de tes belles photos du Maroc...

      merci pour etre passe et a bientot, bien sur, bien sur... bises
      :-)

      Delete
  15. I'm practically obsessed by that last image. Hope you are having good times in your travels...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you, Stickup, i had a wonderful, more than wonderful time, as you can see from the next post as well :-)
      that last image, how interesting - why, if i may ask, why has it touched you so deeply?

      Delete
  16. what is this shadow in the second picture? it makes it look as if she's in some sort of oriental pavillion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it does, doesn't it? but no, she is on a porch, a typical porch of a traditional romanian house, which has this type of wooden pillars...

      you can see the design here:
      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Creaca.prispa.S.jpg

      Delete