Yesterday evening we went to the private view of 'Ammunition', a group show of anti-war art at St Margaret's Church in Norwich. Some very powerful, memorable, uncompromising work; but leaving aside the debate as to what would actually happen in Iraq if the troops suddenly pulled out, it was just so great to see challenging art in Norwich. It was the same venue as our slash exhibion back in June, which has had an unfortunate reputation in the past. On the other hand, it's practically the only place in Norwich that's big, painted white, and available to be hired out for group shows. If there are more shows like 'Ammunition' planned, things may well be looking up…
Earlier, I had collected the 'Giant St Christopher issue' of Kalender from the printers and I really am pretty pleased with it, all things considered. The print quality is great considering it's a cheap and cheerful option, and despite my anxiety there was so much material that it filled 16 pages again (the first Kalender was a 12-pager).
I do worry sometimes that the 'enigmatic imagery' (in the words of my original proposal to the Arts Council) might be mistaken for weird Christian evangelicism, but that was neatly balanced when I collected the previous Kalender and the print shop's managing director assumed it was a witchcraft publication.
So, it's back to rubber-stamping and stapling and writing comp slips and stuffing envelopes – the old routine.
While researching St Christopher for the last festival, I was disconcerted to come across an American Catholic shopping website where a lot of the beliefs I think of as 'medieval' still appear to be alive and kicking. Just try googling for 'St Christopher medals' and see what comes up!!! Pages and pages and pages of them.
I started to feel a bit insecure about some of the ground I was standing on in this project, but Trevor pointed out that these American Catholic buyers of lifesize crucifixes and figurines of Jesus playing baseball (yes, really) are also living in a world of expensive cars and comfortable houses quite unlike the medieval landscape. And medieval people had quite a different sense of time. They had no idea that the world had existed for millions of years. It had been created by God at a time not far back in history and would be ending – with Judgement Day for all – in the very near future. This must surely have affected their perception of life: perhaps everything was bigger, in sharper focus and more vivid to them.
Anyway, the new Kalender is up on the Festial website now!
