Shoulders of Giants

Shoulders of Giants continues the themes explored in my previous series, "Something is Always Faraway", where I reflected on how distance and longing can hold their own kind of beauty and wonder. In that series, I explored the idea that the filters through which we perceive the world are deeply personal and subjective. Yet, despite these individual perspectives, we are all connected by the profound way we build on each other's ideas and discoveries. is connection — our collective memory — is one of the defining aspects of what makes us human, setting us apart from other species we share this planet with. It's both a privilege and a responsibility, one that carries immense weight. 

The title, Shoulders of Giants, is a direct reference to Isaac Newton’s famous words: 

“If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.” Newton’s quote is a reflection of how human progress is not made in isolation but is instead the result of an ongoing dialogue between generations. Every discovery, every idea, builds upon what has come before it. We don’t achieve alone; we stand on the foundation laid by those who came before us. is interconnectedness is the essence of our shared intellectual legacy, and it speaks to the power of collaboration and memory — of seeing further because we remember and learn from the past. 

In revisiting the works of the Norwegian landscape painter Peder Balke, whose paintings I spent so much time with during my years in art school, I was reminded of the ways in which ideas and practices are handed down, reinterpreted, and expanded upon. Balke, through his unique approach to the Romantic movement, bridged the spiritual and the expressive in ways that set him apart from his contemporaries. His ability to merge nature’s grandeur with an emotional resonance echoes the way our collective memory merges past knowledge with present innovation. 

In the end, this piece is a tribute to our ability to remember, to share, and to build on each other's dreams and visions. It acknowledges that our achievements — as individuals, as cultures, as a species — are a collective efort, shaped by the insights and contributions of those who came before us. e title also speaks to the essential idea that distance and closeness are intertwined. Just as light needs darkness, we need both the space to imagine and the connection to create together. Human progress and understanding thrive on collaboration, and it is only by standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us that we can truly see further.