Million Shards of a Mirrorball

“I put my heart and soul into my work and I have lost my mind in the process ” 

                                                                                                                  -Vincent Van Gogh 

‘Self-expression’— page 501 of the Oxford Dictionary defines it as “the expression of your thoughts or feelings, especially through activities such as writing, painting, dancing, etc.” But is it truly so simple? 

It is what maddened Van Gogh, brought Michael Jackson to his peak of fame, freed Virginia Woolf, shackled Sylvia Plath and kept Bhagat Singh sane in his years of imprisonment. Authors, poets, artists, dancers, thinkers and philosophers for centuries have fought to express, showcase and break free from being defined simply by their profession, gender or creed. The one thing they have in common? They’re dreamers. They envision, they hope and they dream. They paint in their art what they believe the world should be but more importantly, what they envision themselves as.

Expression is what saves most of us from insanity, we see ourselves in music, literature, dance and artwork. Be it a tool of escapism, a method of coping with harsh storms or communication, it has driven us since the dawn of humankind, grounded us when the winters became harsh and when the water wouldn’t reside back to the ocean. 

As a child, I was taught that reading is the greatest skill one can have and so I read until my eyes would hurt until my fingers were calloused and I lost myself in those pages but I found myself again in the notes of the piano. With every key that I played, I found a piece of myself coming back. But all of those thoughts burdened me, I was always unsure how one lifts those bricks off of themselves until I held a pen. All of the anger, grief, absconding thoughts, hate and love poured out. I once again felt lighter.

Essentially, as humans we create and we destroy, we are self-destructive beings who try to critique because perfection is of utmost importance to us but to imagine a flawless world is a utopian dream and yet, we still do. In the midst of this perfect existence, we are threatened by failure, by our own monsters- much like in the heads of those mentioned in the beginning. Our only saviour in times like these is our creations as a way of release and a tool to gain back some form of previously non-existent sanity.

This year’s final theme surrounds this very emotion- the emotion of expression, reflection, introspection and finding ourselves amid the chaos within the sentiments of art in all forms. As we created this newsletter, it was not just to showcase our readers' work but also to reflect upon ourselves as a team and as individuals. How much can we endure before lashing out all of our colours? What is it that’s buried so deep inside of us that we’re scared of uncovering, of showcasing? 

So, dear readers, I sincerely hope that within the pages of this heartfelt creation documenting the journey of our lives, you find a piece of yourself and understand yourself a little better.

I hope with my utmost intent, that you can discover those several facets of you that you are terrified of, that haunt you in the middle of the night and wear them like the Kohinoor on the British crown, that you are capable of making the whole room shimmer.

For the last time in this now closing chapter of our work,     

Let the craze prevail