Words and Photography by Keitaro Cloward

What is the work we are the most proud of? When do we create it? Where is the best location for us to create it?

Questions that were bouncing around in my head as summer started nearing, looking back through archives and reliving some of the moments around previous work I love. Asking myself “where was my mind”,” what were the elements of magic that were tied to those moments?” After thinking on it for a while, the common denominator between those moments that kept popping up project after project, was the amount of space I allowed for my mind to have on those particular ones. The space that only comes with time. Long moments of nothing, no constant chatter, no fear of moments of silence, but rather an embrace.

Living in a society that demands from creatives a constant stream of content. Selling dreams of hustle and perpetual workflow. The concept that true creativity, an exploration of the expanses of our minds and not just commercial remixing of current trends to create aesthetically pleasing designs, can be unlocked through boredom. An isolate from the access of immediate stimuli, a state where your mind believes it’s already explored everything and you aren’t giving it anything else to distract itself with. In doing so opening up a chance that there is more, it’s just never been recognized by you. Since you’ve never seen, felt, or heard it. The possibility of imagining what has never yet been imagined.

“The only way one can truly know a state of mind, while it is exploring it’s own endless labyrinth. Is by diving into that state themselves”

When we let our minds wander and explore, externally it looks like nothing is happening. The beautiful machine of the body, that is you, from the outward appearance looks like it’s idling. Looks like it is “wasting” precious time. But that’s also because no matter how many advances we have, we can only scratch the surface of what’s really going on in someone else’s mind. And to those observing or making a study, they can’t actually tell what’s going on and precisely rate or judge the productivity of that state of mind. Therefore turning past studies to result in ambiguous conclusions. The only way one can truly know a state of mind, while it is exploring it’s own endless labyrinth. Is by diving into that state themselves. While in that state one can rate the personal benefits or disadvantages of the experience. Since all of our realities are based off of our personal experiences. One cannot make a study of solely their own and oppose it on society, anyone who is interested in their individual mind’s method of processing it’s reality should explore their own mind themselves, rather than base assumptions off loosely formed opinions that relate to someone else.
To each their own,
Some explore,
Some process,
Some relive,
Some remix,
Some blurr,
Some enjoy,
To each their own.

As Autumn comes in with it’s cool fresh air, it’s almost hard to dive back into my thoughts from
the end of spring. A spring that eased into a summer that would forever change my thoughts on
the creative process and how our minds dream the dreams we dream.
Art of Being Bored
The desire to create a world, not based off of other worlds, but based off of a mutual feeling.
One hard to articulate, one that we may have not known till we knew.
And when we knew, all the past hints of its presence poured out till the pile fragments created
the shape which was our world.
“Art of Being Bored” is an exploration into the creative world of boredom,
Where it’s “ok” “not to know” since that’s an open door where shadows dance,
Where your mind is moving so fast it’s perceived slow,
Where quiet sounds turn into loud melodies,
Where gradients of light tell calm stories of mood
Where color turns into a mood and a mood into an experience,
Where persistence is the inevitable solution of time,
Where the mind dreams while our eyes are still wide open,
Where the plays only you will ever see stage themselves in theater of your mind,
Where stories tell themselves,
Where a tiny object multiples into a textile of design,
Where shapes turn into structures,
Where you ride the rollercoaster of thought as it defies gravitational reasoning,
Where time makes space for detail,
Where self-multiplying questions lead the dance, conversing with yourself about secrets too
precious to ever be spoken,
Where there are more question than answers,
Where the mind can walk it’s own path instead of being driven down the common road,
calculating options only you will ever know,
Where curiosity leads you down the rabbithole, thinking things only you can comprehend,
Where a line turns into a path and a path into a direction and a direction into a journey and
journey into a life,
Where you’re dancing in dreams in which only you can hear the tune,
Where scenes overlooked, familiar through repetition, command attention as the song of light
dances over them,
Where you find stories in clues left by life,
Where you explore sensations never felt,
Where you discover the unknown within the familiar,
Where you watch dreams of things that “could never be”, but in a dream.

– Keitaro Cloward

Photography and words bywww.instagram.com/Keitarocloward
starring: Janell Williams @janellwillliams – Itzel Aquino @magic8b4ll – Nikki Sandoval @nikkisandovall – Jaz @jaz_u_u – Amelia Stein @ameliaastein – Mara @sillycocomara – Sofi Levy @us3r7634 – Janah Goss @janahgoss and Madeline Abramsohn @maddyabramsohn