ARTWORK > Escapism

The term escapism may have a bad rap, but the idea and experience of it is universal as the geographer Yi–Fu Tuan points out. Would we create anything without the ability to assess our circumstances, improve upon and enhance our individual realities? Romantic reveries of distant pasts, remote places, a make-shift cabin in the woods, a child’s fort made from blankets and couch cushions; all may be the escape capsule for imagination, a place to be alone in, or just a way to change our immediate circumstances. Our idealism in creating such places, in believing there’s a better way, makes us who we are.