Simultaneity

I think we have a habit of looking forward into the future or looking backward into the past. We constantly have an abundance of information available to process, which makes the presence of nowness difficult to identify, and consequently understand. Swiping through our Instagram stories: meals, politics, travels, selfies, articles, pets, advertisements, families, etc. All these events are happening at the same time, so where do our ordinary days, our big and small joys fit within the greater field of simultaneity? How do we process the “good” and the “bad” things that are happening concurrently in a variety of scales and intimacy? Slowness is demanded as a response to adequately appreciate and participate in nowness, but discouraged by the speed of which we operate. Simultaneity is constantly present yet constantly fleeting. Contemporary human existence is about coming to terms with the smallness of ourselves, and now, and the bigness of the world, all at once.

In anticipation of making this drawing, I scrolled through The New York Times website. It’s easy to fall into despair through the front page alone—negativity and tragedy being sensational and captivating. It took a few more clicks than I expected to find titles that were at least more ambiguous. I chose a selection of headlines that ranged in scale and evoked a range of emotional responses and added in two personal moments that occurred within the similar time frame of the articles, as listed.

(From the outer to inner rings:)
6. A Total Solar Eclipse Is Coming. Here’s What You Need to Know.
5. Odysseus Moon Lander Heads Into a Cold Lunar Slumber
4. Gaza’s Shadow Death Toll: Bodies Buried Beneath the Rubble
3. What a Search for the Signs of Spring Reveal
2. last week at fatehpur sikri
1. A dropping me off at the train