Nana in the window

Here’s a picture my mother took a few days ago. The subject was spotted by my sister. It’s a privilege for Skipism to have such sharp-eyed scouts. If there was a better way to encapsulate what’s going on in with this site, I’d have been hard pressed to find it, even with an army of diligent researchers.

Nana Mouskouri. There she is, practically a graphic icon if not everybody’s idea of a musical one. The face that launched a thousand careers in optometry, staring from a window in northern New South Wales with a large portion of her beautiful vinyl brain on display.

Not that I really needed any proof that there are people just like me who’ve stopped seeing rubbish and started seeing hidden treasure – you’re possibly one of them. Sometimes the treasure needs a little rearrangement; sometimes it’s just a matter of shifting your focus. The Nana in the window is doing something else though: she’s activating that part of our brain that completes a picture when something is missing. We’ve got a section of her face, part of her glossy black hair, and something round and glossy to stand in for the rest. Skipism is a big fan of this pareidolic phenomenon, as you might come to know if you choose to stick around for the circuitous journey.

It’s also comforting to see a piece of vinyl brought back from the brink, but we’ll have to explore that theme another day. I hope to be able to bring all sorts of old rubbish some new interpretations via this blog. Horrifyingly, there’s more than enough source material available. Oh, and Mum, your picture isn’t on the rubbish side of the divide. It – like you – is definitely a treasure.