Stone

Pyroglyphics: The Archives

Maui · Hawai’i · USA

Breadbox-sized stones repose in gravitational defiance atop slanted layers of pyroclastic flows frozen in time. What historical forces shaped these strange forms and cast these fiery glyphs in the earth is a mystery to me after a fruitless Internet search. Was it the result of some sudden cataclysmic upheaval? Or the product of imperceptible stresses applied relentlessly over the eons? Whatever the case, I found a strange beauty and intrigue in that ordered chaos, from the contrast of hot and cool tones, the interplay of bulbous and pockmarked forms, and the transitions between smooth and textured surfaces. It was a visual poem of juxtapositions and a good reminder that somewhere within even the most deeply scarred individual, there lies a coherent story--poignant, tragic, perhaps even violent and unjust--but worthy of being heard all the same.

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