I’m not sure if this blog is getting a bit stale as its a once-monthly update, and not focused on a particular theme. But I do find it useful for my own records, to look back and get an overview. To sit along side my sketchbook. There, I’ve answered my own query.
Today I read “Laughter is not a simple overt act, as the single word suggests, it is the spectacular end of a complex process. As speech is the culmination of a mental activity, laughter is a culmination of feeling – the crest of a wave of felt vitality… Laughter is a song of triumph”
Suzanne K Langer Feeling and Form (1953) pp 339-40
Its easy to feel the heavy weight of other’s oppression and suffering, to be dragged down, and although I want to bring notice to human rights issues through my work, I am keen to find ways to do this effectively that catches a positive ‘can do’ effect, rather than adding another layer on the layers of emotional guilt.
I’m not a comedian and I’m not great at irony or sarcasm. But I do like laughing, so there’s a way there somewhere. The quote above by Suzanne Langer gives me more understanding, more articulation to these thoughts.
Toronto-based performance artist Tanya Mars suggests, ‘the ability to laugh at something allows you to finally demonstrate your control over it’. She also says that graphic and disturbing images of violence, tragedy and oppression reinforce a ‘culture of victimisation’.
(from Vol 23, n.paradoxa – journal for international feminist art)
