The Architecture of Empathy

Week 29: 03/30 – 04/05

Welcome to /miel/, a written account of my life and what my days hold here in France. Thank you for coming to read today.

First and foremost, happy birthday to my wonderful mother, Valerie, who celebrated another go around the sun on March 31st. I hope your day was everything you could have asked for and more, and that Wasabi was absolutely delicious.

Also, welcome officially to studiomiel.com! I had been working on acquiring a domain for a while, and finally I was able to put one together. Better late than never!

Thursday night, Nicole and I went to Compiegne so we could go out with four other American assistants that live there. It was a fun night! We played some cards, walked a lot, played darts and played pool. It was fun for Nicole and me to experience some bar scenes later at night! When we go out with the teachers, because unfortunately they have to work the next day, we usually only stay out until 9ish. Anyway, it was a fun scene and it is always fun to see the other American assistants.

We woke up bright and early because Nicole and I had a train at 8:30 am to go to Lille! Lille is way up north in France, only about 1 hour from Brussels, Belgium by train. We met our friend there, Lydia, who is an assistant in the Academy of Reims. It was Lydia’s first time in Lille, Nicole’s second, and my third. We were greeted with grey skies, strong wind, and a constant rain. Ah, the north of France…

We spent the afternoon walking around, finding lunch (a gourmet Croque Monsieur), and visiting the Place of Beautiful Arts. Here, I saw my most favorite sculpture I have come across. It is called “The Architecture of Empathy” by John Isaacs, from 2014, and is in marble. The picture is attached to this post. Here is what the placard of the sculpture says:

“The word from John Isaacs allows to imagine The Pieta in Rome, sculpted by Michael-Angelo, representing the Virgin holding on her knees the dead Christ, beyond a religious dimension.

The artist comforts this profane vision in covering the two characters with a sculpted veil of marble, underlining the pyramidal conception of the statue and enveloping a profound mystery. The image of a mother mourning her son is elevated to a rank of universal compassion, in the respect of different beliefs.”

The way that the marble was sculpted, where you could see the fall of the fabric, the outline of Christ’s lips and nose, the incredible sadness that the mother carries… all under a veil of marble. It was so powerful, only augmented by the placard from the artist.

How can we observe and feel the pain and the suffering this mother is going through? How can we understand how her shoulders are hunched, her face is fallen? How can we feel an empathy towards this being sculpted in marble? The way the artist can render this sculpture to create this space and create this emotions for the viewers is completely incredible.

This piece makes you feel the feelings, makes you feel empathetic, and we only see the outlines, we only see the drapes. Is this how we should behave when we meet people, when people enter our space?

That was some unedited reflection there...

After the museum, we went to a super fancy pastry shop, where we sat and had a delicious pastry and a hot cup of coffee. My pastry had dried almond and cashew fruit granola, almond biscuit, mango passion confit, passionfruit crème, vanilla mouse, pineapple compote, lime and vanilla. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE.

Finally we worked our way toward the main event for the evening – a candlelight concert and ballet. We entered an old stock exchange building, after waiting in the rain of course, where we were greeted with a stained glass ceiling, high ceilings and arches, and candles (electronic) all along the aisles and the stage. It was Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake", with a string quartet and a ballet duo. While Nicole, Lydia and I agreed it wasn’t the best performance we had ever seen, it was a very fun experience and we would all go again.

We headed back to our hostel for the night, made our dinner of ramen noodles, and broke out the playing cards and a bottle of wine. It was a great night in, with good conversation, fun new games, and looking out the window thinking: “We are glad we are not in the rain and cold right now.”

Saturday morning, we were up, fed and happy, and went to the Cathedral of Lille. Now, this is my least favorite cathedral on the outside. I had only ever seen it on the outside. However, the inside was really interesting. At first glance, frankly, I didn’t like it. The stained glass was too modern, the altar was too simple, some of the art was too contemporary. Yet, as we read more about this cathedral and understood more, it was actually constructed throughout the 1800s and 1900s, with being finished around 1950. It was a cathedral to combat nihilism on some level, with more color and vibrancy inside, but also to still pay tribute to the Church.

My favorite thing I noticed was that even though it was constructed recently, so much of the artwork was still reminiscent of pre-renaissance art, with the golden halos over the holy figures, the odd bodily proportions, and the likes. It felt like an ode to the Catholic Church, the history with this church, but this old time artwork was surrounded by modernism. It was quite interesting and made me think much more about why I didn’t like it at first. Because it didn’t fit the traditional European mold of a Catholic church? Because the stained glass was abstract and asymmetrical? Because the altar was only one small round table? It makes you think. I was glad to have gone inside and to continually test and stretch myself on even things I don’t realize.

We headed back to Noyon and after an extremely long delay before leaving, and an extremely long delay while on the train, we nearly missed our connection. But, they held the next train for us! We were being yelled at to hurry up and get on, but we made it. We rode the 30 minute train to Noyon, and finally, we were back home. Lydia stayed the night with us Saturday and Sunday night, where we watched a movie Sunday night and relaxed all the rest of the weekend. I watched “Thelma and Louise” for the first time, and I was really impressed! The ending caught me off guard as goofy, but the rest of it I enjoyed quite a bit.

This week has been extremely relaxed. I worked all Tuesday, this morning and I’m off for the week. I think I’ve really embodied the laid-back, live for vacation lifestyle here… That was sarcasm because it seems that I never work, not even my full 12 hours. BUT, I only have ONE MORE WEEK of work, and then I am finished! I am ready.

This weekend, starting tomorrow, Nicole and I are going to London to meet one of Nicole’s university friends, because it is OUR BIRTHDAY!!! Nicole’s birthday is April 7, and mine is April 8.

Happy early birthday to dear Nicole, I am excited to celebrate our dual birthday in a new place and to create new memories to laugh about for a lifetime.

I’ve never been to London, so I’m excited to see it. I don’t really know what to expect, but I assume it will be pretty alright.

Next week is full of social calls, saying goodbye to friend and professors, and saying hello to “bon voyage”, travelling for 6 weeks and finally heading home.

TL:DR

High: Only having one week of work left!

High #2: Celebrating my 24th birthday this weekend!!!

Low: Getting nervous about getting a job for next year. It’s difficult and complicated.

Low #2: Being impacted by the strikes (with public transportation)… oh I wish I had my car…

New French Word:

Piplet(te) – a chatterbox person

Lesson(s) Learned:

1. Always double check twice before you leave a bus, train, or airplane.

2. I love turning another year older.

3. Nights in with friends can be better than nights out.

4. Sometimes things are more difficult than presumed, but that’s okay.

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Until next week, I wish you all well. I miss you all incredibly much. Please send me a message, an email, whatever suits you best.

All the love,

Abigail

Below: "The Architecture of Empathy" by John Isaacs, 2014