BANOS | ECUADOR

Children are born with wonder. Artists spend their lives trying not to lose it. Travel disrupts routine. I think we gradually stop noticing the world around us because we (especially as westerners) desire efficiency (myself included). Travel temporarily turns that filter off. And I think artists need exactly that.
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I’ve been staring at the Andes for the last couple weeks. Part of me just sees “a mountain” but the artist in me asks “why does this mountain make me feel so small?” The traveler in me asks “why does this village exist here?” And the student in me wonders “what do these people know that I don’t?”
Wonder begins with curiosity. Curiosity becomes observation. Observation becomes story and story becomes art.

If there’s one thing world travels have taught me, it’s that there are other ways to be human. There are many paths.

Travel exercises one’s openness to new experience and tolerance for ambiguity. When you travel (especially overseas) you don’t know what’s around the corner. You don’t understand every conversation. Things are out of your control and a lot of times there’s nothing you can do about it. Instead of resisting uncertainty, or being uncomfortable, you learn to dance with it. That’s also the creative process.

I feel like artists have to make a choice. Do we create from memory... or from discovery?
Or both? Wonder keeps discovery alive. That’s probably why so many writers deliberately walk and so many photographers wander without destinations. That’s probably why so many musicians tour. Movement changes perspective. Perspective changes art.

One reason childhood feels so long is bc everything is new. Novelty stretches our perception of time. Routine compresses it. Travel creates more “firsts.” Like maybe it was the first time you saw what real poverty looks like. The first time you had to sit with your own thoughts bc there’s no wifi. First time trying to have a convo, or order food, or buy a bus/train ticket in a foreign language. Maybe it was the first time you were a minority, or a foreign national. First time feeling welcomed and respected on foreign soil. Artists chase firsts bc firsts create emotion and emotion creates memorable art.

Most people can’t go any/everywhere.
Artists can. And then they return carrying stories. Songwriters carry melodies. Filmmakers bring home landscapes. The painter brings home colors, and shapes. The writer brings home perspective. Artists become the bridges between worlds.

One person can stand before a waterfall and say “nice waterfall.” Another can stand there for hours. Maybe later they write a song that causes someone else to buy a plane ticket… who then falls in love…. Who then changes careers…. because someone chose to pay attention. Wonder ripples outward, and art is one of the vehicles that carries it.

Thank you for reading my morning musings, and thank you to everyone who has supported our art, and our travels over the years.

TL;DR
Travel, and make art.