There's an exhibition at QAGOMA that I've been wanting to visit for over a month. The weekend comes and I find another excuse not to go. The truth is I am lonely and visiting places like this on my own amplifies that loneliness inside me. There's only 2 weeks left to see it.
Chatting today with my (I wish he was mine) truck driver Rodzilla (okay it's just Rod, but if he was mine I think this would be his sexy name) about weekend plans, it came up that I probably wont go see the exhibition AGAIN. Somehow he has a way of drawing out the inner truth and he found out I keep sabotaging these things due to my loneliness. As we said our goodbyes and well-wishes for the weekend, he made me promise to go see that exhibition. Leave no room for regret.
I follow a few artists on Instagram. Not just arts and craft stuff, but creators of art pieces. I find them interesting, but also intimidating. I enjoy looking at their works. Like walking through a gallery and enjoying the feeling viewing other's creativity gives you. Or gives me anyway. I like seeing people's stories told through their art. I wondered what stories my art shows. I don't really have an art form. I've just been playing around with different things over the last couple of years seeing what I can do. I also have a few photos and videos that show a little of who I am. And then there's words. I haven't written much over the last few years though. And there's also the music I like to listen to. That says a little about me too. I got to wondering what a gallery exhibition of me would look and sound like. What would I include in it?
So I've decided to make an online gallery exhibition of ME.
Coming soon.
Here's a sneak peak of one item that will appear in the exhibition:
When I made my first coiled basket, I was obsessed with the coconuts washing up on the beach. The husk is made of many very strong fibres with a few softer ones and a bit of fleshy stuff mixed in with it all. A lot of folks use pine needles or raffia for this kind of weave but I don’t like doing things the way everyone else does, so coconut fibre husk was my inner fibre of choice. Crawfords waxed linen thread was the suggested and used beginners binder. A short length in I decided to slip a hidden message in it, inspired by the Perseverance Mars Rover’s Parachute. The colours chosen were too similar so I doubt anyone besides myself will ever know what it says. I had been considering giving it to a friend.
By the end of the basket I had figured it was too “me” to give to anyone. It was wonky. The start was a little messy but you could see it get better as I persevered, reminding me of where I had come from and where I was going. I was finding myself. The more I looked at it, the more I realised I was learning to love myself. Trying new things. Not giving up. A lot of messy things in my life that are a part of who I am. I might be a basket-case. I might be wonky in places. I might be a work in progress. I might be harbouring a sad secret deep down inside. I might be made up of something a little different from most people. I might have “many very strong fibres with a few softer ones and a bit of fleshy stuff mixed in”. But I am me and I loved the way this basket turned out. Not everyone would like this basket, but I am sure there is some one or more people out there who find it interesting and would like to have it in their world. Maybe not the friend it was originally intended for, and not the majority of people, but it doesn’t have to be loved by everyone. Just someone, even if that’s only me.
It fits nicely in the palm of my hand and in it is a thin piece of coconut husk cord twined on the beach one day whilst thinking of the friend the basket was going to be given to, and a slowly increasing collection of miniature macrame frogs and turtles (a bit like a pond) that I keep making for no reason.
Now To Morrow 