When I was a kid in school, some of my teachers would get annoyed because they would catch me
from time to time talking a little too much with my fellow students... And sometimes I wouldn't do
my home work, as a consequence I would be punished for being a naughty girl (such a lovely
punishment!) My teacher would demand that I should sit on a little table just at the very bottom of
the room, facing the wall, doing nothing at all, no pencils, no paper, no books... Nothing on the
table at all! Can you believe that?! The wonderful thing about a child's mind is... It is just so easy to drift away, being carried away by a world of fantasy where the only limit is your imagination... My
imagination isn’t just a tool... It is a key that opens doors to new worlds and experiences,
imagination is an extremely dangerous thing.... It turns you into a creator, it gives you almost
infinite power... But when you drift away by escaping from reality for so long, people wonder
whether you are a freak or aberration. I was very anti social, my teachers used to worry about me
because I wouldn't play with the other kids, I would see them as strangers... Anyway... me and that
lovely wall... That wall had a very irregular surface, it wasn't smooth or painted in a homogeneous
way... Those cracks and wonderful irregularities would give me just what I needed… Try to look at
this wall through the eyes of a child, and you would open the door to a new world, diverse
landscapes with wild deer and a spectacular view to a mountain pick on the background... But if
you push your imagination just a little further - you can feel the wind tossing your hair while
stepping over the wet grass just under your feet. You would feel overwhelmed by the fragrance of
wild flowers and the beauty of an ever changing sky. Look at this wall through the pure heart of a
child, and what people think about you has no influence or any power over you anymore, because
you have "created" a place where you are yourself and feel loved and accepted by who you are!
Absolute perfection in an imperfect world! You have painted your meaning of perfection with the
colours of your imagination over an imperfect wall! How ironic is life, isn't it ?! You are no longer
in a little noisy classroom full of noisy kids... no longer chained to a boring, grey reality you don’t
wish to be part of! You are free, by simply gazing into the beauty of every irregularity of that
boring, old wall. The ultimate irony!
What I have never ever imagined to be possible, is that 24 years after, I would be given a much
bigger challenge – to look through the walls that people build around them, and realise that these
are the true master piece illusion, a masquerade! My everyday challenge nowadays, is to look at
those same walls, and see the beautiful gardens that lie hidden behind them. To look beyond the
barb wire and cracks of those imperfect thick walls, and see, the human being!
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