[#ontheroad reflection: creativity] These last two days, I’ve been driving to and from a school in Qatar for my work with teachers here using #Cambridge resources.
Each day, the route to the school take us through this tunnel with Arabic calligraphy along the walls.
It has turned into quite a special little moment that is unique to this visit for me.
At 16, I started to take the trains around London, mostly going to and from home in Walthamstow, to my Sixth Form and my workplace in Pimlico, on the other side of the city.
In those journeys, I would see graffiti on the walls.
They are a type of art.
But there wasn’t governed structure to it - it was a free for all, perhaps decided by the graffiti artists themselves.
I’m a long way from London now.
And seeing this kind of wall art made me think about what happens when creativity is channeled and even chiselled for a defined purpose.
I’ve found that counter to how it seems, creativity is hard to teach and to learn.
It often requires things you don’t connect immediately to the word creativity:
- discipline
- structure
- grit
Anything else you would add?
Today, I’m feeling #grateful for the artists who pursued mastery of their skills in Arabic calligraphy and made this tunnel of creativity possible to enjoy on my journeys in Qatar.
I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed filming it.
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