PORTALS.
“Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes.”
-Joseph B. Wirthlin
Meaning & Message
When I set out to follow my idea of photographing doors, I was first attracted to how drastically different each door was. The more grungy and beat up the doors were, the better. But then as time passed and the project matured, I started to see elements of myself in these doors.
I could see that at times in my life my paint job wasn’t too pretty. I was often bolted shut with a no trespassing sign, and eventually I was boarded up entirely. However, with some diligent effort on the part of people who cared for me, I was cleaned up. I chose to unlock the deadbolt to the real me and now I feel as if my door is open wide.
I spent a full year, between July 2019 and July 2020, photographing doors. A great deal unfolded during that time, as we all know. These events, that affected each of us, have made people close their metaphorical doors on each other. Uncertainty, tragedy, and heartache have a tendency to make us put up walls and close doors.
So, with “Portals.” I pose a question.
How could we all start to heal by opening our “doors” to each other?
OPEN THE DOOR
We Are All in This Together
The year 2020 has shown that regardless of where we may live, what color we may be, what politics we subscribe to, etc… we are all connected. We have an obligation, as members of the human family, to help each other out.
OPEN THE DOOR
We Can Be Unified
Let us not allow tumultuous times (or the mundane for that matter) take away our humanity; our willingness to love one another. Let us instead allow our challenges to bring us closer together in unity and understanding. There is no need for an “us vs. them” mentality when we are all part of the same human family.
The moment we can realize that we are all different, is the moment we can realize that we are all the same.
It's a movement.
So What Can We Do?
Compliment a Stranger Today
"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."
-William Penn
Serve Without Being Asked
“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”
-Gordon B. Hinckley
Forgive Someone
"I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."-The Doctrine and Covenants, Scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Try to Understand
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." -Marie Curie
Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
"Those who give in prosperity and adversity, and those who restrain anger, and those who forgive people. Allah loves the doers of good." -The Quran, Scripture of Islam
Be Openminded
"Whoever here (in the Dispensation) lives a holy life, transcending both merit and demerit, and walks with understanding in this world-he is truly called a monk." -The Dhammapada, Buddhist Scripture
OPEN THE DOOR
A door, regardless of its condition, is still a door. People, regardless of how they differ, are still people.
OPEN THE DOOR
A portal is not a passageway to something better unless it is open. Like our minds, our hearts, our ears, and our arms; these cannot work to create a better world unless they are open.
LINKS
Click the links below to see organizations that are making a difference.