In Werner Herzog's seminal documentary Encounters at the End of the World, there is a scene in which a penguin finds itself straying away from the pack and waddling out towards the mountains. Without food to sustain itself or a colony to seek solace within, it heads out into the vast wintery landscape, continuing on its journey despite what Herzog predicts would lead to its "imminent death".

 

What is the lone penguin in search of? What does it hope to achieve, if not for the colony, for itself?

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I'm often drawn to characters like these, either in films or through the people I encounter in my life. They are the ones who have or are continually trying to carve their own worldview, against the conforms of society. They are the ones who are in pursuit of a dream or a narrative to call their own. And it is from these individuals whom I look towards for a source of inner strength and shared kinship.