Closure

is a principle about filling in what is not there.

When we see an incomplete image, our brains fill in the missing parts to make sense of it. We have to look more closely at the image and engage with the artwork to decode it and fill in the missing details. 

Words taken from an art journal book that sits on my shelf. I haven’t looked at this book in quite a while, but I was curious if there was anything about the emotional experience of creating in these pages. There was nothing directly expressed. But I immediately drew a connection to the concept of closure in a relational context and started wondering about the possible interplay here.

In psychology terms, closure refers to a sense of psychological certainty or completeness; or the tendency to see an entire figure even though the picture of it is incomplete, based primarily on the viewer’s past experience. (Dictionary.com)

Closure then is based on the primary viewer’s past experience, their frame of reference. Based on their set of ideas, conditions, or assumptions that determine how something will be approached, perceived, or understood. Commonly thought of as something people seek to achieve, something that is healing to pursue. But I wonder, is this always true? Especially when we try to construct completeness based on our sometimes limited perspective or understanding. 

“the page has a more open feeling than it would if I had heavily outlined all the circles.”

And this makes me wonder, maybe there is something more valuable than closure. Maybe there is value in staying open, not needing to force a complete circle. Maybe some things are just beyond our current understanding or we simply do not have the capacity to process the information if it is available. Maybe the value is in acceptance. What happened happened. What is is. We don’t always need to know all the details as to why. We don’t always need to continue pouring our attention here to try to make sense of it, make it fit our current constructs. 

Leaving some parts open allows for new information to enter, over time. Or not. Either way, we can still move on without the illusion of full understanding.

Sitting with this idea, I sifted through my images to see if there was something I could work on around these ideas. I stopped with this image.

Created with a prism, an incomplete portrait. A lack of closure perhaps. Or maybe open minded is a more appropriate title.