Voyage of Life

Life as River Journey Metaphor

In planning a life story video, there are many techniques to prompt story tellers to recall important people and events in their lives. My approach is to have the story teller or family members start by completing a questionnaire about important people and key events in the storyteller's life. Important family photos are also collected. After an in-person preliminary interview discussing the questionnaire and reviewing the photos, I develop a list of topics to cover in the recorded video interview. The video session footage and the photos are edited into a video of just the story teller speaking about their life with overlays of relevant photos.

Maybe there is a less structured approach worth considering. Maybe we should take a trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington and have a conversation in front the four enormous Voyage of Life paintings completed in 1842 by the painter Thomas Cole. The four paintings represents an allegory of the four stages of human life. The paintings, Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age, depict a voyager who travels in a boat on a river through the mid-19th-century American wilderness.

As an alternative to a trip to the National Portrait Gallery, the next best option is to take a long, careful look at each of the high resolution photos of each paintings below courtesy of National Portrait Gallery. Click on paintings below for a link to National Portrait Gallery for a full screen display and a brief description of each painting.

The Voyage of Life: Childhood, 1842:

The Voyage of Life: Youth, 1842

The Voyage of Life: Manhood, 1842

The Voyage of Life: Old Age, 1842

Cole’s paintings include some elements that are true to all of us. However, there are many, many elements that are missing or inaccurate for some of us. Especially for African Americans in the mid-19th century, there was no reason to have the hopeful outlook portrayed in the Childhood or Youth paintings. Fifteen years after the paintings were completed, the United States Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Dred Scott v. Sandford that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States. For African Americans during that period their entire journey, including childhood, had the darkness and danger illustrated in the adulthood painting.

There are other reasons the paintings are incomplete. Religious icons are a key element in the Voyages of Life paintings. In my view the religious icons are too prominent given the complete exclusion of the mortals that play critical roles in life voyages. Only the guardian angel is present near, far, and near again. Where are the the parents and the other adults in the village that guide the child before they set out on their own? There is no one on the river bank giving advice throughout the journey. There are no life partners. There are no other children. There is no suggestion that the voyager may have choices, good or bad, to make on the journey. We also know there should be multiple paths to follow when the voyager has to make a choice. Maybe the voyager should have gotten off the boat and taken the path straight ahead in the Youth painting.

But there are many elements of the journey that do ring true. There is often hope for a better day based upon faith in God, especially hope for the next generation. Prayer is an important element of life for many voyagers. That is how many African Americans survived.

We need an updated, inclusive Voyages of Life set of paintings that illustrates the complexity of life journeys. Cole was capable of intricate depictions of humans as he did in his The Course of Empire paintings. Some critics suggest that Cole was heavily influenced by the Second Great Awakening that emphasized a personal relationship with God. However, the Voyages of Life paintings still have great value in provoking us to think about what is still valid and what is missing.

A frequent comment about the last painting, Old Age, is that the traveler is peaceful as he is nearing the end of the journey. A life story legacy video can allow a story teller to reflect back on their life. How was the journey? Who helped me? What wisdom of the ages (religion, philosophy, books, …) guided me through life? What were the most memorable moments? What mistakes did I make? What do I want to say to someone still winding their way through earlier stages of their voyage of life?

While I am not ready to let go of my more structured approach to planning a life story legacy video, I think the above exercise is a way to start thinking about one’s life journey in a way that will be meaningful to others.

You may want to consider a life story legacy video as a way to document your or a family member’s life journey. For more information including sample videos, see my website at www.LifeStoryLegacyVideos.com. Feel free to contact me. We can schedule a time to talk about the process.

Bryon