FOUR PEOPLE AND A PLACE

In recent times, I have come to see things more clearly when I’m at my most vulnerable.

During a period some years ago now, I found myself in the Trubel of Berlin closely followed by many wonderful days of immersion in Iceland and its einangrun—its profound isolation. Both journeys filled me with a feeling of overwhelming insignificance. The contrast in place couldn’t be more opposing. Yet, out of this solitary togetherness came a curiosity for the idea of Belonging.

I was wandering through Mauer Park, Berlin on a cool, sunny early spring Sunday. The park sits on the former Berlin Wall and its death strip, a place once defined by the separation of families—a literal wedge driven into the very idea of belonging. However, on this morning, the atmosphere was festive, alive with music and gathering crowds. It was an extraordinary contrast of current setting and dark history. People, together and alone, experiencing their own belonging as they went.

And there they were, four people and a place at that precise moment, with so much to say in its elegant simplicity.