01 Jan Hope

Hope

By Jay Harris 

January 2021.
A New Year and a New Day dawns upon us all. We cannot run from it, we cannot hide from it and it catches us all in its strong grip with an adamant determination not to release us.
A NEW YEAR!
Throughout this divided and troubled planet, what unites us is an emotion, an idea we ALL share, consciously or sub consciously, the idea that swells within each and every one of us is ‘HOPE’.
Individuals have hope, groups have hope, governments have hope, teams have hope, friends and lovers have hope, those suffering have hope, countries have hope.
There are a million reasons one has hope and after the devastating year that will be forever remembered in historical literature, 2020 was indeed a year full of doom, fear, anxiety, poverty, anger and of course, hope.
Now, we are all here, 2021, a huge doorway, its maw opening as we unite and step forward with trepidation and tentative uncertainty.
What does hope mean to you?
What do YOU hope for?

It’s almost like a whisper of a Birthday wish or that mythical question, ‘If you had one wish what would it be’?
Of course, hope isn’t the same as a wish… or is it?
During her time in Design school, Gia watched a film by Steven Spielberg entitled ‘Schindler’s List’, which would haunt her for years afterwards.
Released in 1994, the Oscar winning movie told the real life story of a German Industrialist named Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party during World War Two.
After witnessing the persecution of Jews in Poland, along with his wife Emilie, Oskar is reported to have saved more than a thousand lives of Polish-Jewish refugees who he employed in his factories.
In his own words, Oskar witnessed a young girl in a striking red coat amidst the ruin, rubble and corpses in the ghetto of Krakow.
Amazingly, that three year old was actually Roma Ligocka who survived the Holocaust and has since written a book entitled ‘The Girl In The Red Coat’.
In Spielberg’s film, shot mostly in black and white, the girl is seen several times, her bright red coat offering a stark difference to the grey.

Although he says the red signifies the blood of the dead, it is left open to the viewers discretion to add meaning to the vision.
Like many, myself included, the red interpreted innocence and above all, ‘Hope’.
For Gia, it manifests into an idea behind design.

The explosion of red, in the form of a hat atop a jumpsuit, strongly patterned with strong, black lines, crisscrossed, symbolic in hope and boundaries not to be crossed, railway lines carrying innocent people to the gas chambers.
The firm black lines replicate stoicism, space, a line in the sand, DO NOT CROSS.
A statement and not just a jumpsuit, a symbol.
In Western culture, red and black are seen as sinister colours.
Red is thought to mean danger, a warning, a symbol of blood or anger.
Black, although for the picky, not technically a colour, is often portrayed as death, darkness, fear or the unknown.
Put together they make a strikingly visual combination.
Only a trained Psychologist could endeavour to dissect the thought processes of Miss Giordano during her artistic representations and creative spheres yet even I can see that film and injustice play a huge part in the process.
A film critic said, I quote:
‘Schindler’s List delivers a universal message. The actions of one can make a difference in the lives of others.’
And so, I urge you all, dear readers – to please have HOPE.
Use it wisely, share it with others.
It WILL give us strength.
None of us are a stranger to a lifetime of hope.