AND FINALLY
A game to reveal the secret you
WHENEVER I’m in London I try to visit an art gallery to indulge my private passion. This week, it was the Royal Academy for the fascinating Joseph Cornell exhibition (until September 27) called Wanderlust.
The title is ironic: Cornell (born in 1903) was a New Yorker who travelled nowhere yet roamed the world in his imagination.
His surreal art consists of collages and boxes, often divided into compartments, full of the prints and objects he collected obsessively.
I realised that Cornell was ‘illustrating’ the human mind itself, full of things halfhidden, of random memories, compartments and even secret drawers we’d rather not open.
Reading problem letters I often wonder about the complexities of the story behind the words.
Since people rarely understand fully what’s going on inside their own heads, how can they reveal the truth to others? Sometimes I feel we are all Joseph Cornell box constructions.
I found the exhibition inspiring — and, indeed, in the shop you can buy a kit to construct your own ‘Cornell’. But you don’t have to spend money to get creative — so I’ve devised a little exercise.
Take a matchbox, cover with plain paper and write your name on the front. Over a week or so, cut out random scraps from magazines that ‘speak’ to you: a square of colour, a fragment of a picture, a quotation, a face — anything.
Put them into the box, and you can also add any small item that appeals to you, such as a tiny shell. Don’t think too much; let your subconscious do the choosing.
After a week, stop this process and leave the box closed for a few days. Then take out everything and think about what the fragments reveal about you.
Ideally I’d like couples to play this little game together and talk about each other’s boxes. You never know what you’ll discover: a mind’s world in a tiny space . . .
Bel answers readers’ questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, london W8 5TT, or e-mail bel.mooney@dailymail.co. uk. A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.