I was watching the amazing film “24 frames” by Abbas Kiarostami. It is a fascinating and beautiful piece of work. The film consists of 1 painting by Peter Bruegel and 23 of Kiarostami’s photographs each of which he then digitally “animates” creating a series of 4-5 minutes scenes. Maintaining the perspective of the original photograph each frame appears as a static shot with no camera movement. I found myself deeply drawn into these scenes and quickly realized it was not just the slowness and stillness of the scenes that was appealing to me, but noticed that many of the scenes featured a strong horizontal line - often the horizon, but not always. I found this calming. In fact as I was watching I thought to myself “I love a flat line.”
This is not a surprise, but it is a good reminder. I grew up on the prairies where the geography is nothing but a flat line. This flat line speaks to me of spaciousness and openness. I currently live in a moderately hilly and wooded area and flat lines at times seem absent. But I realize that part of my sense of an absence is a matter of perspective. On the prairies finding the flat line is a matter of looking off into the distance. It is a big view experience. Here, I must change my perspective and look closer to find those flat lines; those artificial horizons. But with this reminder of the importance of the flat line to my spirit I will work to open my eyes to the flat lines about me.
