The "Discoveries", Lisbon, Portugal

Memorial to the great Portuguese explorers

When I first arrived in portugal this month to begin my year of artist residencies, the metaphor of the great navigators/explorers departing from Lisbon for their “discoveries” to new lands was lost on me, but I soon found the association the perfect beginning for my own sacred journey of discovery. The pull of this westernmost horizon reflects my own excitement and anticipation and reminds me of the early call to adventure, the longing that inspired the risk, the cost, the edge of the world voyages from that launching point into the vast, great unknown. I can relate and also bow in deference to their courage, the ability to withstand such rugged, salty discomfort. I have suffered so far only 2 poor sleepless nights in a cool but noisy hostel in Lisbon.