Jet’s Journal - #117
January 20, 2025
Hi All!
Here is your weekly round up of what I’m pondering and exploring. Feel free to forward along to a friend if you think they might enjoy.
My definition of good art
I’ve realised good art is like salt water to a cut in your skin.
It’s a little uncomfortable at first and it might sting, but what it’s doing is cleansing your wound and helping you heal.
This is the true power of art in my opinion—to heal, cleanse and make new again.
A beautiful quote
Below is a quote I found from Sigmund Freud.
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
I thought the above was very relevant to our generation and age group specifically as we transition through these uncomfortable years of uncertainty.
Daidō Moriyama
The other night I discovered a Japanese street photography by the name of Daido Moriyama. This led to me watching a documentary about the eighty-year-old called, The Past is Always New, the Future is Always Nostalgic.
Keep in mind the doc is in Japanese and it’s slightly hard to find a copy online, but it’s possible if you look hard enough.
If you’re not interested in photography though you will probably find it boring. I however really enjoyed seeing this man look back on a fifty year art practice, and share some of his insights.
I found it incredibly inspiring seeing him still walking the streets, camera in hand taking pictures, for hours on end, regardless of his age. I genuinely hope to be able to keep that same creative vigour and inspiration when I also grow old.
Pieces of media like this genuinely help me put into perspective how long the creative act really is, and how important it is to not get caught up in the nowness of the attention economy, and intense desire for short term gratification.
Irohas Photo Film Lab
Lately, I’ve been shooting a lot of film and I wanted to put any photographers in Sydney onto the lab I’ve been using to get my photos developed. It’s called Irohas and they’re in Chinatown. It costs $17 to get developed and scanned, but that’s not even the best part—usually, it only takes them an hour or two to get my images uploaded to a dropbox link that’s emailed directly to me. Not to mention but they’ve also got tonnes of filmstock and vintage cameras you can browse in their store. I would HIGHLY recommend.
Sylvia
You may or may not remember a lady by the name of Sylvia that appeared in a previous newsletter. Anyway, she’s an eighty year old traveller who’s currently cycling around the world and promoting friendship by getting everyone she meets to sign her scroll—she’s trying to get a million signatures.
I caught up with her yesterday in Sydney over tea and continued our conversation that began in a Beijing hostel. I genuinely loved listening to her, especially because she’s lived so many lives and has seen how the world has developed over her lifetime. It’s wild that she’s been able to live for 3.2 X my life over and still is able to keep that curiosity and openness to the world.
Not to mention but you can’t get these kinds of geopolitical conversations anywhere. She’s seen the entire world—even the ugly parts and the bits countries don’t want you to see. I won’t mention what exactly she was saying but I will say these conversations were very intellectually stimulating to me and I highly value these kinds of interactions.
I would definitely urge you to become friends with people outside of your demographic, age, and even belief system.
Hope everyone enjoys their week.
Love,
Jet Williams