“So, who is Syn — Syne…sss — thate, theet…what?”

I wasn’t sure how to explain my creative niche to people until I read a book called Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown at the beginning of 2020.

In one chapter, she refers to a term coined in 1912 by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his book, “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.” The term is collective effervescence, and describes “experiences of connection, communal emotion, and a ‘sensation of sacredness’ that happens when we are a part of something bigger than us…it is an opportunity to feel joy, social connection, meaning, and peace.”

I couldn’t believe there was an existing psychological term to explain this phenomenon. It encapsulates my artistic interests perfectly; my desire to depict travel beyond the palm trees and white sand beaches, and instead search for customs and rituals that distinguish individual cultures and epitomise generations of history; my feelings of unbounded acceptance and equanimity at music festivals; my curiosity for foods that can’t be consumed without enacting a series of precise steps and often investing hours of one’s undistracted time; my aspiration for communicating issues surrounding environmental stewardship and social empowerment.

The definition also fit nicely alongside my business name, which I’d only recently chosen:

syn- (prefix): things that are like one another.
aesthete (noun): someone with deep sensitivity to the beauty of art or nature.

Put those definitions together, and you describe a collective of those with intense appreciation and curiosity for the world around them. They're the kind of people that light my soul on fire; the realms where I feel most at peace and inspired, and have decided to spend most of my life inhabiting and endeavouring to capture through words and pictures. I no longer feel pressured to specialise in merely travel or music or performance, for they’re inextricably linked — as we are to each other — beneath this protective canopy of collective effervescence.

All manner of things can happen beneath this canopy. For me, they've been the various music festivals I've had the pleasure of attending as media crew since mid-2018. Before that, they were encounters from several years on the road and 30 countries. This decade of wandering and experiencing and saying yes has filled my tank with humility, perspective, and the courage to get closer to my subjects; to fully unfold in the presence of other aesthetes, and share what traits and treasures we can before time elapses. (It’s also made me a far better writer and photographer.)

Oh, my…so apparently the Greek work for beauty was kalon, related to “call…Beauty incites a desire to explore something and live within it.” (Thanks page 96 of TSM — in the Vocation section — for letting me know this. Makes me realise…my old business name still has relevance now. I can keep my domain and reinvigorate my concept.)

My anticipated journey of the coming decade is starting to look like one heck of a bushwhack into the wilderness — this vast scope of art and nature. I'll continue to depict the unbridled joy and expressive freedom of music festivals, and the vibrance of foreign cultures (when covid-mandated border restrictions crumble). More specifically, I'll explore this theme of collective effervescence. This idea first whispered in my ear when I was dodging fireworks and watching Taoist devotees pierce their faces during the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. It nudged me with its elbow as I gawped over kinbaku performances and cacao ceremonies during Elements Festival in 2019.

It patiently asked whether I’d noticed the thread running through my greatest passions — travel, music, art, nature, food — those things in life steeped in history and carried out with care and fondness for detail.

Now I can call it by name, I feel compelled to run at it full-pelt, link arms with its believers, and, as community leader Jen Hatmaker called it in Braving the Wilderness, have a “wilderness dance party” beneath the canopy…and of course, take pictures whenever I’m not totally lost in the experience of being alive.

I hope you’ll follow me in.

Lauren   x

[Above portrait snapped by my shrewd friend Abigail Brown at Earth Frequency Festival 2020, using my camera — essentially gifting my hysterically joyful Highest Self back to me; an immeasurably treasured possession during the pandemic.]