My favorite author, Carl Sagan, once wrote an essay called ‘Dreams are maps’, where he talked about how visions can become reality, create purpose, and inspire next generations. For some reason, that text always conjured images of the great pyramids, and how one day I would get a chance to see them.
We are starting the last week of our residency at the beautiful Yasmina B&B in Cairo. For the past two months Iana Komarnytska and I have been working on projects in photography, music, video, and podcasts, focusing on the amazing culture of Egypt, ancient and modern, at a place that inspires you to create. Since I was 8 years-old I dreamt of seeing the Pyramids of Giza, and during our time here I got the chance to look at them every morning with a cup of coffee as I prepared what would be created that day.
During our travels, Iana came up with the idea to take photos with this world map at iconic places that we visit. This map was on her dorm room wall when I met her, and later it was attached to the ceiling over our bed in Toronto, where we dreamt of travel and adventure. As our dreams evolve and change, I like that we always carry that map with and within us.
These two months challenged me to exercise my creative muscles, some long atrophied, some in prime form. It got me thinking of what were my true dreams, which creative pursuits endured the passage of time. My vision, my work as an artist, is to create beautiful things that show how awesome we can all become, how interconnected we all are through space and time, beyond identity, beyond personal histories that binds us to what we don’t want.
Sagan was right. Dreams are maps. And they show we can go far, if we are willing to take the journey.
Yesterday I released a second solo episode for the new season of the Wanderings Podcast. I am really happy to share insights into my path of becoming an artist, a traveler, a small business owner in a digital landscape, and I hope some lessons of that journey can be useful to you.