Scattered through my camera roll of my friends’ faces, the whiteboard in class, songs I like and NYC views are endless photos of the sky. Since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by the sky. Over time my fascination has turned into obsession. Whenever I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed I go outside and look up. Something about the endless movement calms me.
Occasionally, I’ll pull out my phone to photograph the painted picture above me. I often photograph skies that are anything but blue, like a warm yellow tone, a nice pink, a light purple etc. These photos mostly don’t go anywhere, I’ll flip through my camera roll every few weeks and smile a little at them but that is it. However, there have been a few special skies in my camera roll that I’ve painted and hung around my room.
I went to Tufts this summer for a three-week art pre-college program. From day one, I had my eyes on the sky and immediately noticed it was special. Somehow, just a few hours away from home, the sky looked different. There were deeper and stronger pinks and purples. The clouds were a bit more cartoonish, and everything felt more picturesque.
On my first night of the program, I met several nice people, but no one I felt a connection to. I hung out with that group of people and walked all around campus. During the walk, we came upon a spot with a great view of the sky. I pointed out the pretty sky and crescent moon to the group and got an odd reaction. The conversation I was a part of stopped momentarily, but no one said anything or even looked up. I felt awkward for a moment but shook it off to quickly snap a photo (very blurry because of my speed walking) while the group continued to walk.
Maybe it was their lack of reaction to the sky or the rest of the mediocre evening, but I realized that this wasn’t my group of people. I don’t expect everyone I meet to love the sky as much as I do, but I’d like the people I’m with to notice it, at least. After all, I came to the program to make art, and artists tend to appreciate the little things in life like the sky.
Over the next few days, I met more people, settled into life in the dorms and at Art School. I spent hours sketching around a small table in the common room with new people, swapping stories while drawing each other and eating countless Swedish Fish. My memories from those first few days are slightly blurred, but I look back nostalgically. My camera roll from that time has many photos of the sky amidst my friends and art. All of these photos were less blurry, taken with more care and often accompanied by similar images taken by my friends. Not only was I not made fun of for taking sky photos, but I had company in doing so! Almost every day on the walk from my dorm to the dining hall for dinner the sky did something magical; sometimes worth photographing and using as a reference for my work, and other times just worth mentioning to my friends.
Seeing so many spectacular skies in a row inspired me to make a series inspired by them while I was away. A muse, something to bond over or something to think back on when life isn’t so sweet, the sky will always hold a special place in my heart.
