#172: I just get in the sea

Oil on canvas.  A woman swimming in the sea as seen from the pebbly beach.

Underneath is the following text: 

“What I’ve learned, when my mental health is bad, I just get in the sea and I feel better.” - Angela Barnes.

#171: Losing It and Loving It (Self-portrait XVI)

You: 

lost in something you enjoy: 

in the state where you are losing your shit and loving it: 

where you just don’t care how you look: 

you are not even thinking about it: 

(zero fucks):

you are just in that moment: 

doing whatever in wherever.

(For example, while singing it loud at the indie disco).

#170: Divine Youth? (Self-portrait XV)

The self-portrait in your own mind of how you imagine yourself to be.  That is, the version that lives inside your current self and that is the image you see in your mind’s eye before looking in the mirror - possibly causing you to get a bit of a surprise when you see the real you - especially if, like Nicky Wire, you are seeing a sort-of idealised younger version of yourself and your inner self does not match-up with your outer self: 

“Divine youth is lying in

A battered and a bruised skin

I wear but don't recognise.”

#169: Put yourself in Munch's place (Self-portrait XIV)

Take a look at Edvard Munch’s Self-Portrait. Between the Clock and the Bed.  

Behind him is a room full of light, showing his life and work.  Beside him stands a reminder of passing, counting down his time left on earth, to one side, and, to the other, his deathbed.  Each waiting to take him away.  

Put yourself in Munch’s place. 

What would you be leaving behind at The End?  

What would be in the room behind to represent your life?

And how would you look when facing the inevitable? 

What would be going through your head?

:

What would your Self-Portrait look like?

#168: National Memory (History of Britain's Involvement in Slavery Edition)

A display cabinet alongside a filing cabinet.  

In each is a card.  

The one in the display cabinet reads, “What do we want to display?” while the one in the filing cabinet reads, “What do we want to file away and forget?”  

The display cabinet additionally contains a number of boards on which are printed the following articles:

Olusoga, David (2023) The Ties That Bind Us. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2023/mar/28/slavery-and-the-guardian-the-ties-that-bind-us (Accessed: 28-29 March 2023).

Younge, Gary (2023) Lest we remember: How Britain Buried Its History of Slavery. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2023/mar/29/lest-we-remember-how-britain-buried-its-history-of-slavery (Accessed: 29-30 March 2023).

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See also: The Guardian Cotton Capital Special Series.

#167: Collective (and Individual) Memory and Forgetting

A mantelpiece and a wastepaper basket.  

One card stands on the mantelpiece in a frame, another is crumpled and sits in the bin.  

Both read, “What goes here?”

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After: Spinney, Laura (2022) If the secret police had a file on you, why wouldn’t you want to see it? Ask the Germans spied on by the Stasi. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/28/secret-police-have-file-do-you-want-to-see-it-stasi-east-germany-siegfried-wittenburg (Accessed: 28 November 2022). 

#166: Talking

Talk

Talk to someone

Talk to anyone

Talk about something

Talk about someone

Talk about anything

Talk about anyone

Talk here

Talk there

Talk anywhere 

In person

Online

Offline

Down the line

You just need at least one other

Find a space and fill that space

Make it safe

Just talk and talk and talk it through

Seek and find feedback to

Find what you need

From who you need it

And

never

ever

stop

This is something I find hard to do

Although the above was easy to write.