Keeping It Going

Photo: John McCormick

I’m feeling a bit more relaxed now that I’ve had time to give the film rushes for the ‘I Always Wanted To Be …’ film footage my proper, undivided attention. The rushes are essentially the initial recordings, raw and unedited. Henrietta (Henri) Thomas, the film maker I’m working with on this project sent them through some weeks ago and I’ve been waiting to find the time to go through them thoroughly. Now that I’ve managed to, I realise what an intense process it is. It’s taken a lot of time and concentration, analysing every second of two 45+ minute tapes, thinking about what’s to be kept and what will eventually be edited out from both the visual and the audio footage.

There will no doubt be a lot more of this editing to come – a process that’s completely new to me – in a film version, anyway. Otherwise, editing is what I do all the time while working with objects – weeding out the ones which aren’t wanted, keeping the ones that are, in any given assemblage. In terms of the film footage, I have to say that so far, I’ve found this part of the process pretty boring and tedious! I’m not renowned for my patience in any case and never feel particularly comfortable around uncertainty and the unknown.

The filming day at the end of August/start of September was always anticipated to be a day of experimenting and playing around with ideas, but I still surprised myself that I strayed quite so far away from my original ideas for the film. This process is, of course, a part of a huge learning curve for me and retrospectively, I’ve been able to work out more accurately what I’d like to feature in the final film version.

It’s now clear to me that I’m not actually so interested in the exteriors of the boxes – it’s the dancers inside them that interest and fascinate me more – seven different ‘personalities’ and the amazing images conjured up by the dancers being reflected in the boxes’ mirrors. I also keep getting drawn back to the theme of competition amongst the dancers – who’s the most robust?/who is going to ‘make it?’

So, now it’s a question of focusing on the additional filming that needs to be done and working out how far the budget will stretch to enable this to happen. The ideas I have in mind have been confirmed as ‘doable’ by Henri and a provisional date for the filming is now in place for the end of this month. I’m going to be focusing on doing as much preparation as possible so that Henri and I are able to make the best possible use of time when it comes to our next day of filming.

The beauty of being given financial support for this project means that I’ve been freed up to experiment and try out various options and possibilities – all with an experienced, flexible and willing film maker in place (thanks, Henri!) It goes without saying what an absolute godsend it is to also have the a-n Artists Network professional development bursary in place, enabling me to be flexible with the budget and secure in the fact that there is money in the budget to pay for another day of Henri’s filming expertise (thanks also to a-n!)

‘… it didn’t really matter what the human consequences were.’

Neglect (definition):

fail to look after, leave alone, abandon, desert, disregard, forsake

Neglect is what has impacted on the state of the bread and roses since I laid them out on a wooden platter in the days following the General Election of May 2015.  In the weeks and months that have followed, documenting the decaying condition of Bread and Roses has acted as a visual reminder of the consequences of not caring.

Bread and Roses May 2015

I remembered ‘Bread and Roses’ as a song, sung regularly at the Greenham Common women’s peace camp and then more recently, from the brilliant film ‘Pride.’

‘Bread and Roses’ takes its title from a speech by the American feminist and socialist Rose Schneiderman who declared: ‘the worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.’

For those affected by the government’s draconian cuts to welfare benefits, many have been forced to go without either. The very richest in society meanwhile, have continued to increase their wealth.

Bread and Roses August 2016

Over the weekend, I read Nick Clegg’s accounts of working alongside David Cameron – and specifically, the chancellor George Osbourne. In a statement quoted in Saturday’s ‘Guardian’ (3.9.16), Clegg claimed that:

‘…welfare for (George) Osbourne was just a bottomless pit of savings, and it didn’t really matter what the human consequences were.’

The human consequences in several cases has proved fatal – desperate and at the end of their tether as their benefits were sanctioned, some people have taken their own lives. I’m reminded of an article I posted on this blog, over the August Bank Holiday last year. It continues to be a damning indictment on what’s been imposed upon the most poor and vulnerable people in our society.

This is a reminder of one woman’s inability to survive, as portrayed by her daughter. Sadly, there are many more like her.

RIP Moira Drury

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/27/my-mothers-death-was-hastened-by-long-delay-in-processing-her-benefitssum

footnote   This link is temperamental. Please go to my post in August 2015 to read the article.

The Flower Seller of Aleppo, courtesy of Channel 4 news.

Things sometimes get lost, so I’m posting this remarkable piece of footage here, keeping it safe. It’s highly pertinent to the theme of a show, still in its early stages of development, which I’m delighted to be asked to be a part of.  More information about that as it unfolds, but here’s a piece of incredibly moving documentation about Abu Ward, a flower seller in Aleppo, Syria who against all odds, fought to preserve beauty in a world of utter desolation.

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10154001524696939/?pnref=story

‘I Always Wanted To Be ..’

A new body of work and the documenting of it has taken up my time and moved my focus away from this blog, to another. I have been busy documenting the process of working with film maker, Henrietta Thomas to make a short film, based around my collection of vintage music boxes. I started a separate blog, ‘Keeping It Moving’ for this purpose. The working title of the short film is ‘I Always Wanted To Be …’  and refers to the common fantasy of so many young girls, growing up in 1960s Britain – wanting in this case, to be a ballerina.

This new piece of collaborative work, still in progress, has been made possible by the generous financial support of a-n the Artist Information Company. I’m really grateful for this opportunity. giving me the chance to focus on a body of work that’s been on my mind for some 5 or 6 years. I have no idea what the final outcome will be, but I’ve been enjoying the journey immensely so far. You can follow what Henrietta and I have been up to so far on my ‘Keeping It Moving’ blog here:

https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/keeping-it-moving

I’ve also had a brilliantly creative time working with photographer, John McCormick for short bursts of time over the past couple of weeks. Having the music boxes around in the studio for the filming of  ‘I Always Wanted To Be…’  seemed like a perfect opportunity to work with John to get some good shots of both the exterior and interiors of the boxes – and of course, the individual clockwork ballerinas who move to the various melodies.

Photo: John McCormick

‘Bread and Roses’ in the meantime, continues to dry out nicely following its recent unexpected rain soaking. More signs of decay are evident and the bread has all but disappeared.  The roses are just about recognisable still, but grow more brittle and delicate looking by the day. It’s now 16 months since the General Election (May 2015), the point at which the fresh bread and roses were first laid out on the wooden platter.

Here are some photos I took today …

‘Bread and Roses’ August 2016

‘Bread and Roses’  August 2016