Look! What's That?

Story Behind the Work

While hiking, I spotted a brightly colored bug. Suddenly, I remembered being a child, wading into rice paddies with a net to catch tadpoles and digging holes in the sand to look for ants. I always wanted to know whether there were tadpoles beneath the duckweed and how many ants might be hiding under the sand.

After all these years, my childhood curiosity had found its way back to me in this form. Perhaps it had been there all along, waiting for a chance to return.

As we grow older, we seem to lose our curiosity about the world. Busy routines and complicated relationships leave little room for wonder. Or perhaps adult curiosity simply comes with too much calculation. We weigh the costs, the benefits, and the possible return. We tell ourselves not to be curious about anything that might waste our time or energy. Even when curiosity appears, we are supposed to stop it and redirect our attention to the “right path.”

But what is the “right path”? How do we define it? I do not know. I only know that everyone seems to follow it. No one stops to ask why they are doing it, or why I should do the same.

For adults, curiosity is a luxury.

I want to return to that childlike state, to hold tightly to every spark of curiosity and immerse myself fully in the life unfolding around me.

Art is a circulation of energetic ideas. What makes them appear new is that they’re combining differently each time they come back. No two clouds are the same.

— Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

PS: I shared the story behind this piece on Reddit, and it moved an eighty-year-old woman by bringing back memories from her own life. I think that is why I keep creating. Art can transcend time, language, and every other boundary.

Sometimes I feel that certain sparks of inspiration “find” me because they want me to bring them into the world. There must be a reason. Some feelings cannot be expressed through words, and embroidery has limitations of its own. Yet these forms of expression allow me to connect with people from completely different backgrounds. Their responses come back to me, spark new ideas, and lead to more creations. How wonderful is that?