Dialogue

Thursday evening was the Dwell Time exhibition opening and launch of the Issue 2 open call. It was a fantastic evening. Great conversations centred on mental wellbeing that went off on alosrts of interesting tangents. I met some new people including potential funders from the rail industry and potential contributors. There were conversations with my friends and family and the people who have been involved in the project to date. It was also our late friend’s birthday – or would’ve been – whose suicide was the catalyst for this whole project. I was thinking about the conversations we would’ve had if he’d been there – what things he might’ve said about the art work and the future plans. He would’ve thought the paper cups were uncouth for sure, but I think he would’ve responded to a lot of works with the parallels of his own experience. If he were still alive he would’ve had some work in the project, but then the project probably wouldnt exist if it wasn’t for his death and his request that Vanessa and I do something to raise awareness about mental health. “You guys do art and curating stuff,” he said. “Can you not work your magic and create a project raising awareness about these issues?” He was very vocal about the power of the arts and was a talented musician and writer. We talk about him a lot, certain moments or coincidences evoking memories of him. In the early stages of grief, dialogue is sometimes not even possible, but after a while it becomes necessary to process what has happened and then becomes the remembering through conversations with people who shared previous conversations. Recounting the dialogue in their absence.