Object lesson analysis: Postcard

Today we were given the opportunity to choose one item from among many and share our feelings and thoughts about it. Well, I don't know if it's because of my love for postcards or because of my curiosity about the picture of this card, but I chose the postcard you can see in the photo below. It's called "The Hidden Cathedral drawing series" by Grace Ayson 

Probably a few minutes after I made my choice, I regretted it. The feeling of looking at this card is not the best.

The feeling of looking out of the window at the city without light and faces at the city. It's quite fuzzy and sad, I feel like I'm in the place of the person looking out of this window, I feel that this person is lonely and their thoughts are grey and cold, just like this card. 

This card reminded me of Franz Kafka's short story The Metamorphosis, which I read a few weeks ago. The story is about the main character's transformation into a cockroach. It is a story about family relationships, and the loneliness of the main character, and as a result, his lonely death. This is a psychologically complex work that leaves a lot of thoughts and fear after reading it. 

Perhaps this is something that each of us is afraid of? 

The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka

"Gregor’s transformation into a hideous insect is representative of his self-hatred and his embarrassment of existing. His subsequent inability to provide for his family, and the impossibility of communication represents the feelings of inadequacy and social inhibition. The rejection and misunderstanding he faces with other people in his new state represents feelings of incongruity with the world and inability to connect with others regardless of how much he tries. The way he then slowly rots away in his room and gets worse and worse is about how tempting yet damaging it is to withdraw from everyone and exist without contact with the outside world." (2022)

The postcard, which is the foreground, is quite fuzzy, as if it was drawn by a depressed person. The feelings that overwhelm me when I look at it are loneliness, grey, heaviness. I see no sunlight, no colours, no people. Just a grey look and outlook on life. 

It's not easy to talk about inspiration from such thoughts, is it?

Therefore, on the postcard we can see a large temple or church and I decide to show my feelings from the photo. So I gone to York Minster with my camera and express my thoughts and feelings in way of photos. 

There is result witch I got: 

First impression

Looking up

Children's dreams

Сulture that is protected

Perhaps the art of history and culture of a place like York Minster will help to awaken inner feelings and bring light back to the overall picture of vision and outlook. It seems to me that when we can feel like the protagonist of Franz Kafka book and see the world through apathy or depression or oppression. We need something, whether it's a journey or a new place or people or art, to make us feel something inside. 


When I was inside of York Minster, the organ started playing and the church choir started singing next to it. My eyes were filled with tears at the deep and ancient beauty that still exists.

Reference:

Book Review: the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. (2022). Available at: https://frappesandfiction.com/2022/07/11/book-review-the-metamorphosis-by-franz-kafka/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2024].