A work in progress of observations, images and writings.
May, 2015
There is something symbolically lonely about the lighthouse. A romanticised existence, with an essential role to play but the necessity to be remote. And the interconnectedness of saving lives and inevitable shipwrecks. Often situated on barren windswept parts of land that jut into the sea.
1, May, 2015
(great) British meals eaten alone
30 April, 2015
Some retired walkers, cyclists and occasional bird watchers I crossed paths with conveyed the tale of a godwit. This bird with such an exceptional name had been blown off course and had been sighted in a nearby bird sanctuary in Somerset. Upon hearing of the bird and its presence, a thousand twitchers had converged.
26 April, 2015
The Loss Adjusters: Katrina Palmer
It starts here, in a shop front with blacked out windows and small signs, on the Island of Portland in Devon. Easy to miss, I was looking for some official Visitor’s Centre. Inside, there is the appearance of an abandoned office. There is a windowless room lined with photocopiers, this is apparently where the loss adjusters had their meetings. But just who are the loss adjusters and what are the loss adjusters doing? I had done a brief search on loss adjusters before I arrived, but it proved an inadequate description. The story by audio recording begins here in these rooms.
Then following a map, I navigate the back paths and quarries of Portland. It’s cold and empty, I wander alone. The voices in my ears (not my head) prove engaging, if somewhat eerie company. I keep asking what the loss adjusters want. And who is the gravedigger?
There are makeshift red arrows and red dots which may or may not point the way. I am between pits of large stones and a graveyard- two stages of this earthen material. Three if I include the narrative I listen to. This is the Jurassic Coast, it’s old but I haven’t done that information search yet. The stone is a compression of millions of years, reduced and exported.
The feeling of being alone and also surrounded by story, other levels of this island- beyond fact and also beyond fiction. The overwhelming afterness I am left with is a meditation on this land and loss- the idea of place as metaphor. I want to know more so I buy the book End Matter.
Notes:
I also think of possibilities of this form, of walking, of aloneness, of being surrounded by aurality, of experiencing immersiveness in an unknown place. The closeness afforded by the audio whilst moving through a space might enable something close to what I am looking for.
April 2015
Reflections, memorials and weather: while driving through the south of the UK alone.
April 2015
Dungeness: home of nuclear power station, Derek Jarman’s garden, a steam train and apparently 5 lighthouses. I only saw 2. The sun was trying to burn through the fog.
Possibly the strangest and most remarkable place I have ever seen. A landscape of seeming loneliness and desolation.
22 April, 2015
A few images from an exhibition at The Photographer’s Gallery, London. This work, Ponte City by Michael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse is an impressive multi-layered portrait of the complex history of the iconic Ponte Tower in Johannesburg. The exhibition shows their longitudinal study of this place, using found materials, images, photographs and site-specific documentary approaches, showing the evolution from prestigious apartheid-era accommodation to the subsequent use by migrants, drug dealers and gangs and its imminent redevelopment. Presenting a parallel symbol of South Africa’s last 20 years or so. The book of the project functions as a substantial piece and has images as well as numerous essays about the building- from different perspectives, all presented as a photobook with large and format components.
