Finding a Response
“It’s so difficult to know HOW to respond to all that’s happening in our country and in our world right now”, said a friend. Too right, I thought.
Everyone I speak to is trying to make some sense of their feelings towards long weeks of isolation, social distancing, fears about their job, now and in the future, their health and watching their emotional inner roller-coasters soar up and down.
Life is on amber alert and we’re all struggling, to various degrees, to process our thoughts & feelings and muster a response. At times it feels impossible to make sense of any aspects of this pandemic and the titanic impact it’s having around the globe, but I think it’s necessary, even in some small way, to find and make a personal response – expressing HOW we feel – and find a vehicle to help us construct that.
For me, I turn to Art as my chosen language of expression.
I have been asking myself some very direct questions this week, to help me focus on my feelings, as a way of lifting me from the fog of Covid-numbness and find a kind of healing in the process.
This week, amongst various home deliveries, I received some stunning flowers from M&S. The bouquet was a feast for the eyes, but so too was the box they came in, which was covered with an array of plant prints – ferns, grasses, blooms & sprigs.
I put the box to one side, but it kept catching my attention. It seriously was too pretty to toss away! Then I had an idea… what about constructing it into a canvas, by cutting and gluing it to make a patchwork surface. I set to work and quickly created a shape I liked. I could feel a simple joy rising in me, as I suddenly knew what I’d use it for – a background for a burst of wild oxeye daisies.
It seemed a perfect ‘coming together’, a response to two things I had been experiencing…
RESPECT: An awareness of an escalating dependance on and accompanying respect for Home Delivery People – working tirelessly under vulnerable circumstances to bring us all our wants and needs at home. And…
DELIGHT: My response to the explosion of wild flowers, grasses and glorious weeds that had delighted me on my lockdown walks.
So, after the M&S box, I started working with other boxes that arrived. Firstly I deconstructed them and then I reconstructed them, to create a tableaux/canvas that I then pastelled some bright, bold daisies on to.
Each time, during the week, I’ve taken it a stage further: experimenting with the versatility of the cardboard and how it responded to black ink, with my own painted plants and added pastels. It’s just a start, but it’s been fun and certainly a great project for adults and children alike.
I especially enjoyed working with a box from, Who Gives A Crap, that arrived with 48 loo rolls inside. #whogivesacrap www.whogivesacrap.org
On the side of the box were the words…
“We believe in the afterlife…at least for our boxes – we’re still not sure about humans. Please re-use this box to give it a happy ever after. And when you’re done, recycle it”.
YES, THANKS… I WILL!!
In its simplest form, I think ART is about discovering your own unique way to make a response to something you feel deeply about – human trafficking, pet portraits, tropical fish or Alpine views. And you’re saying it because there is something healing about finding a response that is bigger than words…and bigger than me or you.
