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).
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:
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?
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).
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?”
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.
Cartoon.
Someone sat working at a desk. A cloud of fog obscures their head, shoulders and much of the upper part of the picture.
