Initially, I only wanted to make a picture of a bench, a tree and the old man on a hill, in silhouette. Then I saw the potential for a short narrative – with a similar, epic story by Christophe Chabouté, The Park Bench, at the back of my mind. So this is also a homage to one of my favorite graphic novels.
What fascinates me in hindsight is the fact that their simplicity allows for these six pictures to be reshuffled into different stories (which I did, deciding on this version as the story I originally wanted to tell):
- You could swap the first and the fourth picture, which might mean she stays away (or he loses her).
- You could move the pictures of the empty bench and see what that would do to the pace of the story.
- You could start with the two of them meeting, then him being there alone, her alone, the bench eventually remaining empty: a tale of missed opportunities.
It’s a bit like the Tarot cards telling the stories in Italo Calvino’s novel The Castle of Crossed Destinies.
The simplicity of your story is wonderful – thank you for sharing it!