I have just read Sonia Boue’s latest post in her blog Barcelona in a Bag regarding a chance sighting of her late father ( in film footage) whilst in exile during the Spanish Civil War
.The discovery clearly has a profound effect given Sonia’s already great involvement in unearthing information about her father’s experiences in exile and his life as a writer. In great contrast my own father’s life was simple and safely confined to the goings on of a couple of farms in Shropshire but its something I too return to in my practice to find self expression and to define a sense of my own identity.
Quite fittingly the most poignant way I can express a sense of empathy with Sonia is visually. I just have this feeling that when she spotted her father in the film footage she may have experienced an inside-out feeling ( its the only way I can describe it really) of being touched by the past – by those that are no longer with us. Its momentary but will remain as an overwhelming sensation for years to come. So in response here is ‘my painting’ given to my mother by here cousin a few years ago. It has been touched and re-worked by my great grandfather I think and the trace of him and the child (my grandfather) is palpable – I feel them – the painting is the catalyst for my current work and now sits above my mantle piece – I love it, its a mysterious unresolved part of me and I am a part of it. ( The painting comes from my mother’s side of the family rather than my fathers in this instance but I’m lucky enough to have objects from both of them to ‘draw on’ – I posted about a letter from my father earlier in the year).
