Eric C. Jackson Studio

HISTORY

I remember being a six-year-old kid trying to build a fortress out of wooden ABC blocks. My mom eventually let me graduate to construction blocks, like Legos, yet, you lock them together with a plastic screwdriver. I took the simplest form one could make and memorized how to put it together apart from the directions.

I’d read simple stories of my favorite cartoon heroes and imagined how I would lay out my own story for their journey. Optimus Prime. Lion-O. Matchbox cars. Always an adventure playing in my mind.

Yet, over time, the little kid was lost. Buried, perhaps, and all of these dreams drifted away. Years went by like seconds and I found myself nowhere near where i thought I’d be several years before. I began to wonder: Have I run out of time to rekindle the spirit of a curious little boy?

The answer is up to me. So, I began to write poetry, trying to figure out where I got lost along the way. I bought myself a DSLR camera as well, capturing the scenes that interested me. I took a liking to movies, marveling at how they combined words and pictures into a cohesive story. I visited art galleries, again, wondering how stories are told through paintings, sculpture, and photography.

The questions became: Where is my life through it all? Where am I supposed to be? ‘Which path should I choose?’ as I recalled days of learning the basics of piano. I wanted to try everything with the resources to try very little.

Still, one poem after the other, one photograph after the next, the cloudy veil over my eyes is less dense as I navigate through this. Searching for the missing person, the heart of the child I used to be. -ecj