gcosta9 – Gina Costa

‘How to fail’ is a podcast series by journalist and novelist Elizabeth Day, whereupon she interviews celebrities and asks them to list three examples, demonstrating their  failures in life. Perhaps, not surprisingly, men somewhat balked at the idea that they’d failed at anything and when pressed, admitted to losing tennis matches, or the inability to get souffles to rise, whereas women confessed they had trouble limiting the list to just three failures. Naturally, my thoughts drifted to my own failures, where to start… trying too hard to find love as a teenager complete with ‘mistakes’…, not selling my first cottage before the property crash in 1990 when I was 21, progressing too soon with pregnancy following major liver surgery, I could go on, of course. Day explains “the only way to survive [life crises] is to surrender to the process”. Like Day, it dawned on me that I had my work and I am lucky because my work here at TheAppWhisperer, comfortably means I am never fully alone, I always have the most gracious company, by my side. And you’ll see them in his weeks’ Mobile Photography & Art showcase, a glowing example of true, dear artists. And, actually, when looking at my failures, I could also see my successes, which curiously ran alongside. Had I not been so starved of love as a young girl, I may not have met the man that I married, who worships, not only ever area of my physical body, but also my mind, he is my nourishment, he is my strength. Had I indeed sold my cottage in 1990, then I would not have had a place to rehabilitate, following major life saving liver surgery in 1993. Had I not become pregnant in late 1995, my dear son, Jake would not be here, with us today. The riches of life can sometimes only be learned from our failures. As Day who listed divorce as one her failures explained, as she folded her wedding dress into a box, wrapping it carefully in layers of tissue paper for the nice woman in Shropshire who had bought it on eBay realised, this wasn’t failure at all, it was a part of life, she had learned from it and now she was letting it go, the failure had departed, the creator had returned.

Enjoy this triumph of a showcase, each singular image has the capacity to provoke and to surprise, each one, full of life.

Thank you to all artists for submitting your works. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here.

Many congratulations to the following artists for being featured this week:

Maarten Oortwjin, borisbschulz2009, Catherine Caddigan, nheco, Dina Alfasi, nashira190, Poetic Medium, Raja Cretonne, Francesco Sambati, Paul Toussaint, jillian2 – Jill Lian, Luison – Lrh – , Clare Pickett, Shel Serkin, Sui Sawada, I Rome, gcosta9 – Gina Costa, Kate Zari Roberts, Nick Kenrick, Kathy Clay, Marianne Rieter, Gianluca Ricoveri, Susan Rennie, Lorenka Campos, Deborah McMillion, Jun Yamaguchi, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, Ghost, Linda Hollier, Cindy Buske, TheiPhoneArtGirl – Meri Walker.

Music this week – ‘Oxygen’ ©Stephanie Schneiderman