Resistance: a Five Year Retrospective#3

First published on February 2021

When I made this series of anthropomorphic hammers I saw them as weapons rather than tools.  To weaponise, the weaponisation of, Easter and egg — a free association of words circling round my head and not finding any order.

First published in April 2023

First published in November 2021

Sans titre, sans voix

First published in October 2020

@Crownletterprojectresidency, Bourg-Argental

First published in March 7th 2023

The choir meets once or twice a week to sing traditional folk songs from Pinega. They gather in each others’ homes to rehearse and enjoy food and company. Like sisters, like the Crown sisters, they keep each other going and make art together. Some of them are in fact cousins from the same village. They have been on tour to Norway and elsewhere but mostly sing in Archangel.  One of them had just got married and invited me to the feast.

I look forward to feasting again (and maybe even singing) with my Crown sisters in the spring.

Na zdorovye!

First published in January 2022

first published on February 2024

Letter from Glasgow: The Forgotten Music

I was in a charity shop with my daughter, rummaging among old coats at the end of the rail. Suddenly a song came on — a song I knew once but hadn’t heard for ages, it was sort of Northern Soul but it soared with a refrain that came back three times and felt like free-wheeling, soaring to the edge of a landscape. It thrilled me. It gave generously. I was surprised how good it felt to be away from my desk, chancing on songs amongst old clothes. I went to the counter and paid a few pounds for a striped sheet, a check tablecloth and a cellular wool blanket, the song was free.

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First published in October 2023

First published in December 2021

Image : Manuela Morgaine, San José, Costa Rica, March 2023.

Canciones Populares, Manuel de Falla – Montserrat Figueras &  Jordi Savall.

First published in April 2023

 “’L’ examinateur : – Quand votre père vous a annoncé que vous alliez être mariée avec votre cousin Soleiman, qu’est-ce que vous avez dit ? Comment vous avez réagi ?

Malika : – J’ai rien dit. La fille doit obéir. Une fille qui n’obéit pas, c’est le déshonneur. C’était décidé, mon mariage, depuis que j’avais 5 ans. Mon père et mon oncle étaient d’accord.

L’examinateur : – Pourquoi vous ne vouliez pas épouser votre cousin Soleiman ?”

“Man examiner: – When your father told you that you were going to be married to your cousin Soleman, what did you say? How did you react?

Malika: – I didn’t say nothing. A daughter must obey. A girl who doesn’t obey, the family is dishonoured. My marriage was planned since I was 5. My father and my uncle agreed.

Man examiner: – Why didn’t you want to marry your cousin Soleman?”

To read more (French and English)

First published in July 2022

Easter Bells. Les cloches de Pâques

First published in April 2021

First published in January 2023

Pendant trois semaines je suis allée écouter le son perdu des usines du Terney.

J’ai écouté les habitants me parler des sons de leur environnement.

Voilà qu’on n’arrive pas à entendre.

Le silence de l’usine ne permet plus d’entendre le chant des oiseaux.

First published in June 2021

Single channel video: 1’ 44”

First published in January 2021

I woke up having forgotten which way to turn the key to my door.

It was as though somebody had taken apart pieces of me while I had been asleep, only to put me back together, like a puzzle; and in the process had misplaced one of the pieces. So irrelevant it had been, that the puzzle looked complete enough without it, and the solver just walked away shrugging.

Or maybe it was an accident on a microscopic scale, concerning a couple trillion neurons and synapses, and a single fallen martyr.

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First published in July 2023