I'm very attracted to the idea of synchronicity. Take, for example the book "Complications: a surgeon's notes on an imperfect science" by Atul Gerwande, borrowed from my daughter's Nevada bookshelf. Gerwande drew my attention to the fact that potential surgeons are selected for their tenacity rather than their skill, which can be taught. Chiming with this idea is the experience of photographer Dorothy Bohm whose retrospective I visited at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. Her father's Leica was thrust into her hands as she made her exodus from Konigsburg in Prussia aged sixteen. It was her determination which made her a photographer not only successful enough to provide for her husband through his years of studying for a chemistry doctorate but throughout her very long career -- she's eighty-five. Some might say it's not synchronicity so much as an extra nudge to get working, though after Urchfont I shouldn't need anything more!
Labels: Synchronicity