Another month, eh…

Hope everyone is doing well? It’s pretty wild out there.

Thanks to the folks who came to say hi at Good Vibes this weekend, was nice to meet you, hope maybe some of us can work together next year.

Thanks to Rowanjoy for having me.

I’ve been busy in the studio working on self portraits and bringing some of my photos off of screens and into reality with Art Director Wizard, Hannah Taylor…pray to the print and post office gods that I get them back in time for:

Out of the Blue Drill Hall Open Studios

Sundays 3 & 10 December

11-4

You’ll find me making a wee guest appearance with pals Lost Map Records in their studio, G49.

There’s an art market on out in the main space and also lots of neighbours work to have a nosy at. My studio is in a weird part of the building and I’d have had to get some door staff to bring folks up and down, in which case might as well just hire in a PA and build a bar…or sneak into a pal’s space and make a mess there instead.

I’ll have some images of gigs/events I’ve shot for Lost Map over the last few years, along with a few performer portraits I made on Eigg last year at Howlin Fling. But I’ll also have a few prints to sell, maybe the stuff Hannah’s been putting together (definitely by the 10th).

Would be great to see you if you are free so fire along and say hi, bag some prints, records and merch…

I’d also love it if you joined the gang at LOST & FOUND.

It’s a private space on here where I write a bit. Mostly so far it’s been about a bunch of heavy stuff over the last year but I’m so bored of talking about that stuff and of trying to process traumatic things. It’s all a bit too woe is me. I’ve not written on there for a while as it’s all been a bit intense.

I was in the bath earlier thinking, why do I waste my time sometimes getting all maudlin about past lives I know I don’t miss. I don’t want to be cynical and hold all this tension in my body so maybes it’s all resurfacing just cos my body and brains know it’s time to alchemise them all…So I’ve started writing some short stories to add into the mix. Might be based on life experiences or mythology, who knows. Sue me.

I’ve promised some folks to write a bit more about my experiences of things like Poland Syndrome and kicking the booze so I’ll still rant on about that too I guess but I want to lean in to the tasty stuff. Also maybes get to share some stories from the old days about all the characters I’ve met and their weird and wonderful ways…Come along with me, no salacious scandals just some cathartic larking about and sharing tales to get to know each other better?

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This last month has mostly been getting involved in my kid’s obsession with the beautiful game, visiting my lovely pals in Hamburg and avoiding them turning me into a cat lady, staring at art as always and having a wild old time on a lantern parade with a bunch of little kids.

Visiting church in Hamburg on a Saturday evening is a surreal experience which I didn’t know I needed and highly recommend. A woman was riding a hobby horse, pretending to be a male saint, while the weans sang some hymns about this saint fella hiding out in a goose shed. Praise be. After their lantern parade we had a wee band with a light up xylophone and marching drums play some tunes for us while everyone drank tea and ate goose shaped biscuits. Sonder. Perfect entertainment for space cadets who don’t speak German.

There’s also a lush exhibition on about Otto Dix’s shared influences. I fell in love with a black and white surreal film by Julian Rosefeldt, called Deep Gold. It’s a short made in 2014. Set in 1920s, it explores sexual morals, gender roles and the similarities in politics then and now, all set in a tiny Berlin nightclub. It’s like a shot too many of absinthe.

Oh and I also fell in love with poet Gregory Orr. I’ve been a fan of his work for a while, short and succinct lyrical gems. I watched him tell the story of his life (he killed his brother in a hunting accident as a wee kid, was tortured for demonstrating against war and all sorts) and how his art saved it and he’s just a very cool old boy. You can read a bit about his history here. He’s developed this whole world for his work in which he says there’s a book that contains all the poems and lyrics ever written, he calls it the beloved, and it’s a library where everyone has access to the magic of all art and words.

““I believe in poetry as a way of surviving the emotional chaos, spiritual confusions, and traumatic events that come with being alive.””

— Gregory Orr

I’ll be adding some prints to an online store on here over winter too. I’m also really bored of instagram and avoid all the other social platforms entirely so come join the regular old mailing list and I’ll remind you when I’ve word vommed on here again or when I’ve succumbed to the pressures of capitalism and done some offer on prints or when I’ve found my baws and sorted an exhibition or whatever…?

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