Sharing Rebecca Elson's Antidotes to Fear of Death because a vision of the vastness of time and space knocks me out of myself and into an appreciation of LIFE; a much-needed tonic on days like these. Happy New Year! Antidotes to Fear of Death
Sometimes as an antidote To fear of death, I eat the stars. Those nights, lying on my back, I suck them from the quenching dark Til they are all, all inside me, Pepper hot and sharp. Sometimes, instead, I stir myself Into a universe still young, Still warm as blood: No outer space, just space, The light of all the not yet stars Drifting like a bright mist, And all of us, and everything Already there But unconstrained by form. And sometime it’s enough To lie down here on earth Beside our long ancestral bones: To walk across the cobble fields Of our discarded skulls, Each like a treasure, like a chrysalis, Thinking: whatever left these husks Flew off on bright wings.
It is possibly unfair to have christened my carcinoma Kevin. I’m sure there are many delightful and honourable Kevins in this world, but when I was first diagnosed with cancer, my terrified brain could not get close to imagining this thing inside me, which, unless it was dealt with, would eventually kill me. I took to calling this 48mm triple negative carcinoma Kevin because, as Lionel Shriver’s novel states, ‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’. This new series of artworks K is for Kevin documents the experience of addressing Kevin. Each phrase embroidered on handkerchiefs is taken from my steroid-fuelled chemo diaries. Together these pieces tell the story of Kevin’s demise in 54 chapters.
Here's some news on 2020 projects:
For all of you who made it to last week's launch and for all those who couldn't get there, here's video and photography from the evening by Caroline Rix, Photographer .
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![]() MEDUSA & her SISTERS
Limited ed artist book & poetry anthology For publications & prints go to: PRINT SHOP 'Entering into Natalie Sirett's world is like meeting oneself in a universe subject to completely different rules of recollection. The work is delicate and brutal, sensitive with a bite. Subsequently, one's memory of her storytelling is always full of colour.'
Libby Anson Editor, Arts Writer, Author The A to Z of Art |