Introduction, poetry and artwork
by Tamsin Cunningham
A kaleidoscope is made from a combination of a barrel, a series of mirrors and a tumble of small objects. Often the objects are relatively mundane; buttons perhaps or fragments of coloured glass. But when viewed through the lens of the kaleidoscope, reflected and fragmented and reconstituted, the mundane becomes beautiful. Seen only ever in part, each element that is tossed and turned in the barrel of the instrument is elevated as part of a complex geometric pattern, full of contrast, complexity and meaning. What might seem straightforward when viewed alone, becomes, when paired with fragments of its neighbours, something of infinite fascination.
No two patterns produced by a kaleidoscope are ever the same. Like snowflakes, the geometries formed are unique to each moment and each turn of the barrel. Each view through the lens is a matter of chance.
Experience from a phenomenological point of view is a little like a kaleidoscope. Each moment is a jumble of sensory information; fragments of sound, smell, touch, colour, warmth which in turn connect us to a vast sea of memory and meaning. We are always sensing, always embedded in that ocean of stimulation. From a phenomenological perspective it is not possible to truly disconnect. We cannot exist purely as cerebral, objective beings, separated from the world; we are enmeshed within it.
For me, this way of approaching experience means that all sensory encounter holds the possibility of discovery that reflects both outwards and inwards. The world around me is a memory aid, an emotional barometer, a catalyst and a teacher. I am not only in relationship with the people in my life but in relationship to the trees, birds, hills and rivers I encounter too and like all relationships these connections are stronger when acknowledged, respected, listened to and shown thanks.
Kal-eido-scope: derived from the Ancient Greek kalos for beauty, eidos meaning "that which is seen” and skopeō: to look to. To see beauty.
Gyroscope Illusion
Kaleidoscope Mind
Kaleidoscope Minds
They say
Be objective
Be reasonable
Be rational
And I imagine
the mind
of their mind’s eye
floating silent
A weightless marble
The still centre
of a gyroscope
watching the world spin
But I know
that all our minds
are kaleidoscopic
Tumbling together
the sacred and arcane
Each moment
a prism
a freefall
a conversation
An alchemy
A mirror each
for Family,
Culture
Past
Reflecting fractal beauty
that is more
than the sum
of our parts
I stand
in a kaleidoscope moment
under night sky
Where firefly glow
lights luminous memory
Where celestial dyes
bleed through
the wet parchment of time
Where the animal thrill
of night air
evokes bravery
And the bravery
evokes all the times
I have not
been brave
And I study
my mind’s image
with my mind’s eye
Senses combing
Memory’s gilded index
Emotions stirred
by the spoon of encounter
Faultlines of feeling
running the seams of years
And I think of that objective mind
in its reasonable cage
The world encountered
through a one way mirror
Emotions
cloistered
The index of memory
yearning to be touched
I picture
the illusion;
this feigned separation
Feelings like vapour
escaping their hutch
Past bumping the present
like dodgem cars
The shock of collision
The rebound
And I think
Isn’t it better
to be kaleidoscopic?
Kaleidoscope
which means
to see beauty
To be tumbled
in freefall
but more
than the sum of our parts
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