​The public imagination is shaped by the experiences we each have throughout our lives. The things passed on from parent to child, the things taught in our schools, the stories we share, they all contribute to the way we think about the world and the way we perceive each other. When cinema was created, a new kind of storytelling entered the cultural sphere. For the first time a repeated story identical in every way could be broadcast to the world at large. Silent films were even accessible no matter what language you usually spoke. Although outdated and often no longer exciting, the art of vintage cinema is as fascinating as it always was and now, we can study it for its pivotal moment in history.
 
What began in 1983 is now a huge vault of classic films made in the golden age of moving pictures. Because of the nature of these old devices, the media is not completely reliable and with diminishing numbers of copies on old-fashioned tape, and fewer people knowing what to do with it, converting the contents into something more modern and durable seemed to be a true noble cause. The Prelinger Archive now holds over 30000 individual films, of which 9200 are available immediately online. Why not help the preservation effort by creating an archive of your own?
 
A massive selection obviously means a huge scope of content types. You will find the things you might expect, entertainment and information videos, but there are also home recordings and public government broadcasts. The amount of social and historical evidence on offer with these recordings is invaluable, with excerpts from history and social settings made permanent for us and our ancestors. We can explore the evolution of film making and the challenges of making acceptable content for mass audiences.
 
The videos are available to watch partly on the Internet Archive and partly on their dedicated YouTube channel. It will take a good while to sift through the entire catalogue, so here are some examples to give you a taste of what you’ll find.

Sanity is often used as a relative term. We define something as sane when it conforms to the various standards that we expect from something in its situation. The problem with creativity, then, is that to change the normal into something different, we run the risk of being judged as insane or just plain old crazy. The perceptions of the masses are usually the only difference between sanity and creativity, with the imaginations of those around us being the judge and final decision maker. If they can’t think of a way something is useful to them, or interesting in any way, then the result is often a bad reception. 

A creative genius is someone who uses their creative intelligence to improve the lives of those around them in a substantial way. This could be scientific or artistic with both venues offering great audiences who eagerly await the new and novel idea. When we use our creativity to change something in a way that makes a difference, we run a genuine risk of making things worse. This is the line between insanity and creative genius, where the result really matters on how we are remembered. 

The reason creative people are tolerated in society when the risks are apparent is that creative process is the way human society progresses. The act of making little changes to a process or design is akin to evolution making little changes to genetics through cross-pollination and mutation. The cross-pollination and mutation of human thoughts are the driving force of creative change. This form of reverse entropy is a reflection of life’s very own principle of maintaining a chemical imbalance in order to carry out necessary functions that exceed the energy required for homeostasis. The overflow of human energy is then used to produce a variety of changes and adaptations that will be tested according to their worth and their immediate surroundings. 

It has been shown, especially in art, that a profound madness can become a funnel for astounding creativity. The paintings and poetry of the mad are popular now and have been for generations, with crazy ideas and insane perspectives and interpretations taking the lead over our usual humdrum and bourgeoise thoughts. Richard Dadd, Edvard Munch, Vincent Van Gogh, Louis Wain, and many more artists are well-known for episodes of insanity. Even science figures like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are known for having problematic mental health. Genius and madness are often linked. In order to have a ground-breaking idea that shifts the rules of how we go about our lives, we need to have an element of creativity that most others do not.

Madness and creativity have a link in the phenomenon of apophenia. This is a type of psychosis that results in seeing patterns and hallucinating because of seemingly unrelated causes. A creative mind will naturally draw correlations between loosely connected principles in a sometimes playful or sometimes observant manner. This can become a form of madness when the patterns and imaginations become irrational and counter to the everyday functioning of life. It can result in the subconscious mind becoming closer to conscious thought, with dreams and non-sensical images making their way into the rational consciousness, affecting the way we feel and think. Prone to suggestion and control, people who suffer from serious apophenia can be a risk to others and themselves. It has been shown that apophenia can also be a precursor to psychosis and schizophrenia. 

​The positive side of this kind of mental process is the ability to unify concepts and principles into accurate and rational sets. By showing how one thing relates to another in a way that doesn’t follow the traditional route of thinking, creative people are able to draw correlations between subjects that are often seen as different. For instance, Isaac Newton was able to determine that an apple falling from a tree and other such everyday things like this are related to the movements of the Earth around the Sun. He even proved it. Amazing, right?
 
To achieve theories that utilise several seemingly unrelated factors requires the ability to hold multiple perspectives at once, sometimes ignoring conflicting ideas that each one traditionally holds. It is in the letting go of the conflicting ideas and finding another way of thinking about something that allows the pattern to be completed. By bypassing the known facts to prove them insufficient we can be seen as insane, by the way we deny what can be shown to be seemingly apparent. The apparency of a thing is often related to the way we think about it rather than the thing itself. It is in the shifting of perspective that new things become clear and old ideas look outdated.
 
Creative people are inherently rule breakers. They look to see what can be changed and they work to show it can be done. A sense of challenge and reward can be a driving force in breaking through given boundaries, obeying a gut instinct that something is possible rather than listening to the social consensus is what makes creative people pursue their ideas. When we break rules as a habit, we can often appear to be either insane or completely unsuitable for anything. The madness of not following instruction and thinking to cut corners or find new avenues is counter-productive to most processes in the modern word. It's important to be able to maintain an element of conformity when it matters, even if the creative mind is continually offering advice.
 
The frame of mind that looks for creative solutions is not always available. It is heavily determined by the mood. Because creativity is linked to the dopamine reward system, the individual’s mood can be a limiting or driving factor in their ability to be inventive. The problem solving and correct result forming reward that the mind receives during creative action is related to the idea of novelty and repetition. Both factors work together in a feedback mechanism to build on one another. This process of novelty and repetition gives rise to new concepts and practice at the same time which results in brand new creative ideas and skills.  
 
People with an active limbic system are often prone to mood swings and uncontrollable emotional lives. Although possible to manage this backdrop to life, the limbic system seems to have a mind of its own and paints the perceptions a variety of colours depending on how it is operating. This part of the middle brain is related to subconscious thought and is the source of most of our emotional response. This means that creative people are exposed to the sways of up and down emotions, especially if the reward system is active at the same time. To be rejected as a creative person can lead to a big down sensation and to be accepted can lead to a dramatic up sensation, both of which are detrimental to the next level of productivity.
 
This means that creative people need to maintain a healthy sense of distance from their work and the rest of their lives, especially when in the thralls of public acceptance or rejection. When the whole spirit is entwined in the outcome of a body of work that’s taken emotion and intellect, and a diagnosis of madness is given, it’s vital to keep this apart from the normal everyday things. If the opinion goes the other way, then it’s also important to not let the high of acceptance bring about a sense of entitlement or superiority. You may have noticed this is not easy for many highly successful artists and intellectuals.
 
But not all creative people are mad or are even prone to appearing so. Many of us are quite capable of getting on in the world and feeling fine about doing so. It’s not creativity on its own that leads to susceptibility to mental health issues. There is a triangle of influences at work that results in memorable characters and ground-breaking works. The combination of a creative mind, the ability to see and pursue new perspectives, an unusually high IQ, to be able to see and understand concepts that most others are unable to, and a predetermined element of psychoticism, work together to create personalities that excel not only in inventiveness but in being remembered. 

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​Being descended from an alternative culture and growing up in an environment that in many ways does not represent the innards of the home, the children of immigrants and their kin in turn can develop a sense of apartness and togetherness at the same time. Knowing yourself to be unusual and yet respected and welcomed is something we can all feel relative to, even if we’re indigenous to our own culture. However, for the majority, we just can’t know what it’s like to be African descended in the west because it’s not who we are. So how do we learn? Art has the answer.
 
The Parisian 193 Gallery, which began life only in 2018, has expanded to represent in Venice. The Dorsoduro district was the perfect spot for the outreach and growth that good art can’t help but inspire. To become talked about even more, the gallery now is set to host the Centre For Contemporary Art, Lagos. Presenting Passengers In Transit, the group-led exhibition offers an exploration of the Venice Biennale theme of Strangers Everywhere. Drawing on 193’s capabilities to bring together themes and talking points, the cross-cultural and collaborative style is perfect for this key avenue.
 
Collaborators Paula Nascimento, Oyindamola Faithful, and Roger Niyigena Kerera have brought together the thematic spirits of April Bey, Christa David, Euridice Zaituna Kala, Joana Choumali, and Thandiwe Muriu. A range of media portrays the artist’s imagination over works on photo-print to sculpture. Each artist has African heritage yet carries their own sense of self and ideal through their unbordered lives.
 
In a way, we are all passengers in transit, and perhaps the best lessons we can learn are from those who found themselves further than most of us ever get to. Strangers Everywhere can represent many things, living in a new land, growing up in a land your family doesn’t fully understand, or just browsing social media and dealing with attitudes that would have got you in trouble at home. By taking heed from those who have made the most of their human journey and travelled further than anyone else, we can adopt perspectives from high vantage points that otherwise we probably would have missed.   
 
Fascinating read: ​Translating Childhoods: Immigrant Youth, Language, and Culture
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Emotions are like colours, they all have names and they can be nicely blended into one another like a spectrum. Our feelings emerge from the various experiences we think of and encounter, and when a phrase accompanies the feeling, it’s labelled as an emotion. There are plenty of stock phrases that people use to convey how they feel, and at the same time, these phrases can conjure the feeling from its hiding place when we were not conscious of it. Depressive thoughts carry depressive feelings, grateful thoughts carry grateful feelings. These emotions can be challenged, accepted, rewritten, mocked, and so on, depending on how you feel best to deal with it. We each have our own agenda, however most of us want to get on and be content with our daily activities. This means we need to take control of the various inputs and only listen to the ones that benefit us.
 
Colour theory and emotional intelligence are very similar. In a study by Berlin and Kay during 1969, a series of observations were made in regard to language and colour across indigenous peoples. In the enlightened world, in which global information is easily accessed, the roots of our cultures are ever increasingly diluted. However in indigenous cultures, the influence of modern thought is much less pervasive. It is therefore easier to determine factors such as language and colour relationships. It was found that when cultures describe colour, every one had at least two colours. These were light and dark. Other cultures, with a more diverse linguistic, could talk about four colours. It was only after this barrier had been reached that a more diverse spectrum of colour description became available. Our names for colour have given our brains the tools it needs to distinguish between them, and for other cultures without these names, the distinguishment is less vivid. They appear as shades of one or the other.
 
With our art, we can use this principle to further the reach of our emotional intelligence. A good description of a perspective, a situation, and the true-to-life feelings that arise from it can help people to learn how to empathise with those they are not familiar with. We possibly cannot imagine what it is like for a tribesperson who didn’t get their new lip piercing because of a wrong move in the dance, but for this imaginary person it might be the end of their dream. How do we know? The story has to be genuine and realistic, it has to put the reader into the shoes of the stranger and give them second sight. Art can do this with pictures too, a vivid picture can bring about all kinds of genuine sensations we’d not otherwise have felt. Words, however, have the ability to pin-point and stick around as recordings in the mind, whereas an image reverberates as a symbol, available to a wider range of analogues.
 
In a world that thrives on division and misunderstanding, the projection of evil onto rational points of view, and the closing off of logic according to the colour of the badge, we can all learn something from the art that speaks louder than the intolerant. Half of the voting populous are not lunatics and they are not somehow twisted or scheming. They’re just different and they see things differently. We need to be able to open the eyes of those around us with our art in order to tell the truth without being ugly and repulsive. Preaching to the choir will not do, when educating your antithesis you must respect their position before you can expect them to respect your own. 

Recommended reading: Emotional Intelligence 2.0: A Practical Guide to Master Your Emotions. Stop Overthinking and Discover the Secrets to Increase Your Mental Toughness, Self Discipline and Leadership Abilities
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