Picturing the Body As A Child's Painting Canvas

A woman from China Health Trends magazine contacted me recently asking me for photos of us to include in an article she's writing about long term travel. So I turned to our handy external hard drive, where a copy of every picture we've taken since getting a digital camera lives.

Such nostalgia. I lost myself in a swirl of photos from my pregnancy through Lila's toddlerhood in Brooklyn and to all the places we've traversed since our departure.

This particular image takes me back. See the high chair? We spent hours choosing that thing. Somehow these decisions seem so much more important at the time, particularly when you only have one child. We finally opted to go with this plastic IKEA job, because it was cheap and easy to clean.

This photo also makes me realize how our past connects to present and future. Lila has loved painting and drawing for as long as I can remember. Our friends Ken and Hanako gave her a first birthday gift of bathtub crayons. She drew all over the walls, the tub, the counter. She painted with non-toxic kid paint, yogurt, chocolate pudding. Her favorite canvas was her own body.
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I mentioned Lila's body art to a NY painter friend of mine. She was horrified. She's all for creativity, but insists it must stay on a real canvas. I was surprised. I enjoy the impermanence of the body canvas. Similar to Buddhist sand mandalas, the artwork is ephemeral, but instead of ritual destruction, the child simply grows up, changes, and the original canvas disappears forever.

But I digress.

The memories showed me how the seeds for What Lila Draws and  What Lila Sees were planted early on.

Lila took a look at this picture and asked me why she was painting on her body and the table. "Do you want to do that now?" I asked her? "No, I like paper," she said. And Styrofoam, cork, rubberbands, sticks, shells and leaves. I wonder what she will grow into next.

Comments

[Ken & Hanako]

So glad to have contributed to the furtherance of human creativity. But we were also interested in the moment of this picture in terms of Lila's development. H said that here she looks like "Leigh plus Noah divided by two." K said that she looks like she's on the cusp of baby and little girl.

[Collette]

Thanks for sharing this. It is amazing that as kids grow & learn, they have a very distinct way of looking at things even as a very young child. As they grow, their experiences just add to & expand their own self.

[Leigh Shulman]

The photo was taken December, 2005. So I guess that would make Lila about 20 months old.

This Wiki article outlines what development happens then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_development_stages#Toddlers_.2812-24_months.29

I know, no where near as poetic as the way you said it. But yes, she was most definitely in between baby and little girl person.

She misses you guys, btw. So do we.

[Leigh Shulman]

Yes, Collete, I'm often amazed at how much Lila guides herself in terms of her outlook and wants. It's easier, I suppose, when they're babies, and you can just pick them up, and they do what you want them to do. But the older they get, the more exciting, fun and interesting, because you never quite know what will happen next.

It's funny. As I type this, Lila is banging on the table with her pencils. First time I've seen her take an interest in drumming.

[Victoria]

Lovely pic! Our three children, particularly the oldest who is a girl LOVE painting their bodies and I have lots of pictures of them covered in paint. I say why not? They've got all the time in the world to bend to what 'society' says is right. Why can't bodies be for painting? Our daughter once painted a chair when I wasn't looking. I wasn't entirely happy and asked her what she thought she was doing. She replied "It was a boring colour. Don't you think it looks prettier now?" I agreed that she had a point, but I did make her wash it off!

[Lilly]

Hey,

This is an adorable picture. It amazing to see how kids interact with their surroundings and objects around them. They are free to do as they please with no worries. Lila was having fun and didn’t care about the mess or that she would have to shower later on. Kids act in the moment and they don’t hold anything back. I wish we were all like this but we must abide by society rules and god forbid you go outside with a painted body, you would be labeled as crazy. Ohh how great it is to be young and innocent .

[Lilly]

Opps almost forgot, thanks for checking out the blog!