Theories of Flight – Albatross

We want to be so free
So light as to resemble
A wandering albatross
Cast upon the wind

But we are not looking closely enough
We are not looking inward enough
To see that magic is missing

So clunky are we
Even these behemoth aviators
Sprawled across the weeping sky
Bear no resemblance to our own heavy forms
Etched into the soil

We will remain earth bound
Huddled for warmth and comfort
Chumming for our survival
Our ugly breeding dances continue
Our incessant and graceless habits grow
As signs of our wingless migration
Destined to lead us
From nowhere
To nowhere
Again~

nicolas hall 2011

Theories of Flight – Albatross is one of a series of 24 images born out a recurring and growing
theme in my work over the past two years looking at the pursuit and futility of the ideal of flight throughout our human existence.

Flight as freedom, flight as imagination, flight as a deep seeded desire and as the epitome of our own transformation. Yet we never truly come close to the freedom of the birds above us.

Never that true to ourselves
Never that unbound
Never that pure

We are here and they, are there.
Some things remain as they always have been
As they always should be.

nicolas