The OGT Daily #69 Metamorphosis II: Voice

 To continue about Kafka, it is to him that I owe a debt of gratitude.  He was always writing about his struggles. I was a struggling art student in my twenties when I came across a tattered copy of his letters to his father.

Kafka's father Heinrech was a butcher who had little understanding or patience for his son's interest in writing and the arts. In the letters Kafka defends his artistic passions in such a way that I, as a 21 year old, took courage from.  

I myself was very poor at the time and receiving no financial support. I could barely cover my tuition with scholarships. All savings went towards rent with little left to cover food. A good friend used to come over and cook me a meal of pasta just so I didn't wither away.

I am so grateful for her, but Kafka's words also bolstered and inspired me  in my art making and writing.

Kafka himself was often ill with tuberculosis and died young from starvation. Ironically, this remarkable writer with such a distinctive voice was literally silenced by this disease which closed off his larnyx and throat.

There was a quality of simple and clever allegory that influenced my own artistic voice and vision as I became a film artist in my early life and up into the current time.

For whom are you grateful?