Scrapbook
4 min.
A pictorial, poetic portrayal of an “other” created by my son Emilio, a seventh-grader at the time, age 12.
The work was created as a school assignment in which students were asked to portray a peer without them knowing. Students had to collect data about their subject anonymously and indirectly, and then create a scrapbook presentation to be shown in class. Emilio's production went far beyond the goals of the assignment and of his teachers’ expectations. It is a genuine work of art in both images and words and reflects a depth of perception and reflexiveness that still continues to amaze me. Emilio’s scrapbook gained widespread appreciation and I could not pass the opportunity to turn it into a film and share it with others.
The scrapbook is assembled as a folding strip containing nine different images with their accompanying text that can be seen and read sequentially as the story unfolds. Below are some of the images and the complete text.
Recorded in Baltimore, October 2006.
Directed and Produced by Wilton Martinez / Camera & editing: Wilton Martinez
Original artwork and text: Emilio Martínez
Narrated by Emilio Martínez
Music: “Flying” created and interpreted by The Beatles, © The Beatles
Duration: 4 minutes
1
As I take you, whomever you might be,
a friend, a relative, an animal or even he.
He, the one whose ideas are our guide through himself.
This is a journey through a different kind of “normal,”
a normal that is unique,
that believes it is the same, but…
As we venture on, we shall discover, you and I,
who and how this being is…
8
After the serenity is a wild jungle of present.
Everything a bit mixed up with current and new thoughts,
just finding a place to stay quiet and calm.
Waiting to be turned into memories and pasts,
while more and more new information enters the mind…
Zooming to get past the mass of the jungle
is the sun,
a very elegant one,
setting the memories that are too old,
too old to be remembered…
5
There, in the distance, as we get closer, is a line,
a line that was formed from him.
From a mixture of him and himself,
just all in one line.
Maybe a day, maybe two, are in that line
which is that unique “normal” that we saw
at the beginning of the past…
2
Before we take off into the distant and foreign lands of mind,
we shall look at what’s in front of us,
a grand spectacle, an amazing site,
a passion for the game…
3
We start off in a sea of indecision
but quickly capture ourselves into darkness, night,
calmness and tranquility.
We sail through the night looking at his clouds of likes…
4
Soaring past time we arrive at a sunny hillside looking, not even looking, just watching things go by…
Not worried about tomorrow, yesterday or today.
Just in the present, with itself,
with its close ones nearby…
6
This line then transforms into him.
He and him again,
just everywhere, no limits.
Energy, calm energy,
is what we have found…
7
Because past the massive scattering
is a sea of thoughts,
ideas and opinions,
gently wondering and eventually popping out
to express themselves.
As we glide closer and closer we see a small boat
floating away from ashore, tides of learning,
but still longing for the things behind it, past,
capturing and remembering details
that might not seem important to you or me,
but are important to whom they are meant to be important to.
As the sea grows, the mind learns
more and more…
9
As the night falls, we slowly walk
to a very blank and spacious sanctuary,
one that contains a passage,
a passage that stops abruptly.
We look to the end of the path and notice that,
little by little, it is growing.
We gaze up.
There, floating, but very well placed
is a simple door,
one that glows because it is open ajar.
Past that door,
What is inside,
That is his future…
Given by Emilio Martínez
October 9, 2006
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