On isolation and beyond, and archetypes of doubts

Sunil Sharma

“I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in a circus sideshow, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.”

---Ralph Ellison

 

It is the pensive gaze!
A woman with a cap looking out of the window at the nightly world rushing by.
A picture of the urban disconnect, desolation, reverie.
Lonely in a crowd!

The fellow commuters are also mere outlines, shadows, blurs---reflections on the glass, each atomised, withdrawn, a study in isolation, ironically, on public transit.

A group of fellow travellers, yet separated by distances, attitude, ideology of individualism and late-stage capitalism---caught on film by an artist-poet-editor of great caliber---Jerome Berglund.

The focal point is a female figure staring and slightly detached from the surroundings. She may look a descendant of a Toni Morrison or Richard Wright or Ralph Ellison; surely a proud offspring of Rosa Parks, confidently commuting in the bus/train, ear hoops and cap defining her identity, yet forlorn, part of a gloomy scene, typically urban, maybe, neo-noir. An illuminated interior, fellow humans as distant, part of the scene, yet away.

Some surreal moments!

Sharing his perspective, the noted young photographer Jerome Berglund says of the moment that presented itself to his artistic side and compelled him to freeze it for posterity:

This was snapped on the subway when I was regularly riding public transportation around the greater Los Angeles area in my California years. It's a rare example of an isolated individual I captured amidst general cityscapes and street scenes. Something about her expression continues to captivate me, I'd like to know more about who she is, what she was thinking, what experiences were underway at this particular moment in time frozen forever, encountered in media res. The image always also reminded me of the painting Girl At Mirror by Rockwell and its cubist cousin by Pablo Picasso...   

As Haruki Murakami observes so well about this modern characteristic of social living:

Sometimes, however, this sense of isolation, like acid spilling out of a bottle, can unconsciously eat away at a person’s heart and dissolve it.

Jerome captures the isolation and a deep desire for connections most poignantly in this frame.

Robert Maddox-Harle, a regular contributor and on our editorial board, published another of his cerebral collections of poetry---Archetypes of Doubt.

Robert Maddox-Harle is an artist who needs to be discussed more regularly and frequently. 

This month's Special Focus is on his latest literary achievement and features a recording by him as well.

We wish him critical and commercial success and a long productive life.

The rest of the edition is equally fascinating.

Enjoy, please!

Sunil Sharma,

Managing Editor, Setu (English)

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Setu, July 2025