The Mirror of Permanence

Seneca once remarked that we are like travelers on a ship; whether we sit, stand, or walk, we are moving toward the same destination. We often mistake the vessel for the shore, believing that the structures we build and the foundations we lay are as fixed as the earth itself. Yet, beneath the weight of our stone and steel, there is always a fluid, shifting reality waiting to reclaim its space. We build to defy time, to carve a permanent mark into the landscape, forgetting that the very ground we occupy is subject to the quiet, persistent erosion of the elements. To look upon our own creations is to see a reflection of our desire for stability, even as the water beneath us ripples with the truth of our transience. We are not the masters of the architecture we inhabit, but merely guests in a house that is constantly being unmade by the passage of time. What remains when the solid world begins to dissolve into the liquid depths?

Barry Cawston has captured this duality in his work titled Wills Building. He invites us to see how even the most imposing structures find their true form when mirrored in the stillness of water. Does this vision change how you perceive the permanence of the world around you?