This is a video of performance artist Marina Abramovic doing a piece where random people can come up to her and spend one minute sitting in silence with her.
Midway through the video, unbeknownst to her, her ex-lover Ulay shows up. Ulay and Abramovic shared an intense relationship back in the 70s, doing performance art out of the van where they lived together. When they realized the relationship was over they did one last performance piece: they walked the Great Wall of China starting at opposite ends, meeting in the middle for one last embrace - after which they parted ways, supposedly never to meet again. Until now.
I admit it - the second the two of them made eye contact I totally lost my shit. I didn't even realize it was possible to burst into tears that immediately, like a switch being flipped.
But dude. You can see the two of them finally getting proper closure on their relationship. You can see them let go of thirty-odd years of stored-up nostalgia - happiness and sadness and anger and regret - and forgive each other. All without saying a word.
Aww goddammit I'm crying again. Crying, and wondering whether The Boy and I can have a similar moment of catharsis at some point. I don't think we're there yet. But maybe someday.
