Living in solitude

Living in solitude

We are always in search of the other, of others, of the social to make us feel included and loved. The constancy of this does eventually subject us to a blind flee for finding our place in the crowd; pushing us further and further into a tight little box, where we do not know ourselves and annul the expression of our being that has not conformed to being indoctrinated by birth.

Living in solitude makes me feel the silence of the night. This state invites me to dance the subtleties of the universe that spins in a great spiral around me. An occurrence only perceptible when creative leisure is the guiding sail that leads the boat to an unthinkable destination.

I met Mr Manuel Messias some time ago. He was born near the Lapa do Bode cave, on the banks of the Una river, in the Chapada Diamantina. He now lives in the town of Mucugê with his family. For many years he mined the mountains of the Chapada in the hope of finding a brilliant. The mining forged a resilient and solitary character. The days in the mountains in search of the diamond enchanted his heart and soul. The starry sky, the silence of the night, the murmur of the water running over the rocks, the company of a dog and, sometimes, of a partner in fortune taught this man to live, at present, in the solitude of his farm in the company of animals, crops and mountains.

From our last meeting, I took these photos in order to narrate the poetics of his choice to live alone in the middle of such an intense and contemplative nature. I am touched to see him. Probably I feel in him the same longing that pulsates in me. A greater desire that whispers charms and encounters with one's own soul. A force that leads us to enter the cave to bamboo the most precious shine. A diamond that cannot be cut by others, except by the prospector himself.


Dhan Ribeiro