I have managed to look at this, this afternoon after feeling rubbish all week, working from home for my part-time role, trying to keep going with the BOW A4 project, and keeping the children occupied without all the various online education things set up properly yet. The whole world is in the same boat – and I just have to accept everything will take longer – we’re not going anywhere, I guess, so it doesn’t matter. We are being made to slow down. Which is a good thing no doubt – and what’s more, the Conservatives have been forced into shifting dramatically closer towards socialist principles, although it does seem to be business rather than sick, old, and vulnerable who have the support so far (I wonder if Johnson will be booted out soon and Rishi Sunak  put in a caretaker role…)

Anyway, I am getting closer to writing an introduction for BOW A4 but in the meantime has developed the one for this. It’s a tricky precarious path I’m treading … some will misinterpret so I need to find ways to remain ambiguous but explore what I’ve been looking at throughout the modules – entanglement.

At the moment, the (poetry) writing is at the back of the book. I wonder if it needs to be at the front?

I need to re-edit the fish pic – it’s too black.

But otherwise, here, I think it is. Will send to peers shortly and see what they say/

Mono only 2 – plain cover only

Cover with title 1

Mono only 2 full

I have also been looking at doing this as a postcard book but struggling with the poem bit at the moment. Not sure how to typeset it and make it work.

 

alternative introduction :

This project is one of several strands of work which emerged while working on a collaborative project titled A rumour reached the village. While the poem was included, these particular images did not end up in the shared exhibition.  They and the group show were made while contemplating the political uncertainty affecting the European Union, when I visited my mother in Ferentillo, Umbria, for the duration of the summer school holidays in 2019. [The sequence arrived at in late 2019].

The United Kingdom’s transitional exit period officially began in January 2020. By March, all of Europe was in lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Italy has, at the time of writing been one of the most severely affected outside of China where the virus is believed to have emerged. The UK was one of the last European countries to introduce severe restrictions on movement and social interaction imposed to stop the spread of the virus.

The village of Ferentillo consists of two wards, each with their own crumbling, medieval hilltop castle built for observation, protection and a place from which to call the alarm in case of danger. It is known for its museum beneath the crypt of Church of Santo Stefano, where naturally-mummified bodies are displayed in glass cases. Some bodies are nearly four centuries old, the youngest is from the nineteenth century. The preserved inhabitants include birds and animals, villagers and visitor’s from afar, including China.

The work is made to acknowledge the fragility and ingenuity of humankind, and the entanglement of past, present and future, as well as financial, cultural and organic systems. It emphasises the fleeting moments of our personal experiences; and celebrates, as well as recognises, that which is greater than the individual. It focuses on cultural structures and natural phenomena, growth, and the vastness of existence. It is the third project I have made in the area.

2020