Whilst putting together a Tour Pack for Rat Rose Bird (my current fun task) I came across this piece of writing I did for the Fierce Festival brochure in 2011. It reminded that I showed the same two pieces there as I am currently thinking about now. Here it is:
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| Video Still from My Compass Rose (Sheila Ghelani 2008) |
Covet
Me Care For Me and Rat Rose Bird
Two
sides of the same coin.
Two
pieces about the same subject.
The
same period of time.
The
same events.
Two
different approaches.
Two
different outcomes.
Moving
in opposite directions.
Bookends.
*
Covet
Me Care For Me was made in 2007 in the middle of a maelstrom.
It
involved a short focussed making process and took me to some precious
places:
Into
the glass-makers studio and up-close with alchemy.
Over
to Farringdon to explore the local jewellery quarter.
Into
the wholesale shops of East London's watch-sellers.
And
over to Angel to an engravers stall.
Stationers,
haberdashers, junk shops, picture-framers.
I
bought the hammer in a local DIY store.
The
long rubber audience gloves in a very conveniently placed plumbers.
*
Rat
Rose Bird has been its opposite in every way.
Although
begun in 2008, it will only just be finished in time for Fierce
(2011).
A
long, lengthy, drawn out process, involving short bursts of making,
interrupted by long periods of forgetting.
Perhaps
to make it possible for me to:
Keep
going into wedding shops.
Smile
sweetly whilst buying roses and champagne (to waste and smash).
Discover
a gruesome freezer at the back of all pet shops.
Spend
hours and hours reading about colonialism.
Pretend
my house has rats in order to buy traps.
Ignore
supermarket lights as I queue for small pots of cream.
Sift
through toys in pound shops.
Sift
through thoughts at bus stops.
Carry
a chest of drawers up the hill in the rain.
And
up the stairs.
And
up the steps.
And
into the van.
In
the middle of the night.
To
drive through traffic, with a stranger making me explain.
*
Several
times whilst trailing from shop to shop I've wondered to myself what
it's all about.
*
Once
this piece has been shown for the first time, I think something new
is going to start:
A
new phase of work.
A
new interest.
A
new type of looking.
A
new love.
*
I
am going to spend my coin.
*
I
am going to buy a glass of something nice.
To
raise towards the future
To
start something new.
 |
| Video Still from My Compass Rose (Sheila Ghelani 2008 |
My
arms are going to be wide open.
I
am going to be smiling.
I
am going to be looking forward.
I
am going to be looking towards you.
*
I
will be starting again.
*
Fingers
crossed eh?
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