"Thus, without comment, Van Gogh wrote: " Life is probably round".
And Joë Bousquet, with no knowledge of Van Gogh's sentence, wrote:
"He had been told that life was beautiful.
No! Life is round."

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

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When feelings of uncertainty, fear or sadness take hold of us, the sentimental metaphor of ‘curling into a ball’ comes to mind.

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This image of roundness is synonymous with the protecting of life, a motherly embrace — ideas of a womb or an egg, of hugs and small furry animals come to mind. The sensation of becoming small or retreating, whether physically or emotionally, are ways of coping with emotional turmoil where the embrace of a tight hug is absent.

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The narrow proportions of alleyways are similarly comforting exaggerations of our bodies; reverberating and projecting themselves onto us, enveloping us like a walking nest, they may offer a form of psychological shelter that is rare to find in the city, consequently giving way to the experience of discovery and play within their rhythmic nature.

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