Creating Portraits in Afghanistan
How can creating portraits in Afghanistan change one’s life? In this episode of Wisdom of the Ages, host Ayn Cates Sullivan and guest Jacob Sutton revolve their conversation around the correlation of humanity and the arts to happiness. Jacob had an art trip to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2006. He met people and immersed himself into a new culture. Tune in and know why happiness is not based on materialism and how being present in the moment with someone can change your life.
Ayn Cates Sullivan:
Welcome and blessings. This is Ayn Cates Sullivan, host of Wisdom of the Ages. And today I want to speak with you about what I feel makes us human, and this is creating relationships with our fellow human beings and the world around us. So I’m going to stop beeping here, hopefully. It’s kind of interesting how this AI starts to bleed in, and we can use it to help us and it can also hinder, right, Jake?
Jacob Sutton:
Yeah, yeah. I know, I know, I know. It’s a double-edged sword of the highest order, Ayn, definitely.
Ayn Cates Sullivan:
Okay. So yeah, I’m a big believer in the arts, as I know you are in literature and honest journalism, and I personally believe that creating art is as close to God as we can get on this planet. I know that to write a story, I must be able to travel in the external world, but also in my inner world of dreams, in both places. I need to be familiar with both of these worlds. My mother paints her inner landscapes and her external landscapes, and I just think this is really terrific. In fact, I woke up this morning looking at the two dragon paintings that I really love.
So I feel that creating art with others can help us grow and establish deep friendships. I mean, even last night I dreamt that I was skipping a rope in my father’s library, and I woke up wondering if I was dreaming a memory, or if somehow we were still together in some parallel dimension.
So when we go into the world of art, we can explore subjects and ideas that are off the wall and maybe considered off-limits, so we can have fun. So I hope today we’ll explore beyond the normal confines of egoic limitation. And also, we’re going to walk into Afghanistan, which is a world. It’s an area on the planet right now, it’s having a lot of difficulties. And I think it’s wonderful to focus on this to bring some love and humanity into this place.
So my guest today is Jacob Sutton, a person I’ve known for several decades. His father is a famous Royal Academy painter by the name of Philip Sutton. And my mother is an international artist Gwen Cates, and so I hope you’ll check her out, too. She’s gwencatesart.net.
But anyway, Jake and I hit it off straight away when we met in London. We’ve had many conversations over the decades about the arts and the best ways to keep the arts alive and thriving. And Jake is also an excellent photographer, and I really enjoyed the art parties at the Suttons at their house in London. It was really inspiring and fun.
So between 2001 and 2006, Jacob Sutton traveled to and lived in Afghanistan and drew over 150 portraits. Now, at the time, he had no idea what was going to happen in that country. So it’s interesting to visit the place and hear his thoughts about living there for three and a half years. I think it’s really touching. So as you listen to the podcast, you can follow Jake’s journeys through the cities in Afghanistan, as well as these remote places in the countryside, some just down dirt roads and whatnot. And you can go to jakesutton.blogspot.com. I think that’s probably the best place, Jake, do you think? Or [email protected], either one and you can follow along with what we’re going to speak about. So it’s Jake Sutton, Blogspot, can see what we’re talking about in those places.
Of course, this is a podcast, so you might have to just imagine as we go along, but we’re going to go on this mystery tour of Afghanistan. I love hearing the stories about this. I loved it years ago when he told me the stories, just living with just ordinary people and how you can be touched, how your heart can really be touched by being with loving, caring people around the planet.
So Jacob Sutton is now doing Master Classes in portraiture, so if you want to contact him about his courses or if you want to learn more about being a painter, the easiest way to get him is his LinkedIn page. You can find him there at Jacob Sutton, painter, and photographer. There’s another photographer in the UK, but he’s a painter and photographer, and you can get in touch with him there and possibly on Facebook, too. So when we get back from this short ad break, we’re going to take this tour through Afghanistan. So stay tuned, we’ll be right.
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