I’ve produced a series of artworks sharing some of what I learnt about the Cycle of Life whilst my dad was dying. My dad wisely didn’t stop living just because the doctors told him that he was terminally ill. Like many doctors, I had thought I was something of an expert at dying. But then …
I was in Bermondsey and so grabbed the chance to have a look at the Memory Palace in the White Cube. The accompanying booklet tells me that “memory defines us”. And that art is “a powerful medium for stories missing from history’s official record”. Three of the items felt especially relevant to my current work …
As I washed my dad’s dead body, I thought of how much of a Cycle of Life there is. How life cycles on and on. My dad must have washed me when I was a baby: his first child. I freshened him up through his time in the hospice. Just because he died, I wasn’t going to stop washing …
This digital collage is about what happened to my dad’s heartbeat when he took his last breath. I’m showing the sound and light and movement during the multimedia performance in the Showroom gallery. The image shows a colleague clapping my dad’s heartbeat (on the left) and me talking (on the right). On either edge are (white on …
This digital collage of Deathbed Skiing shows me talking into, walking and standing alongside one of the Showroom Korean ‘machines’ that underpinned ‘Dawn Breaks’ (the ‘story bus’). The words I said are here. When my dad was so near death that he’d stopped talking, he got out of his bed. People that close to death don’t get out of …
This is a very brief summary of my Praxis Forum submission. Praxis Forum put out an open call for visual artists who are interested in collaboration and in pushing the boundaries of their artistic practice. Applications from disabled artists were especially welcome. There is to be a year-long programme of monthly peer mentoring forums, including peer crits, discussions, …
These are the words I used in the multimedia performance of Ultimate Living, with some of the images: Ultimate Living: Often. in the hospice. I washed my dad. Freshening him up through the day. Just because he has died, I’m not going to stop. He must have washed me ALL OVER like this when I was a small baby. …
Here are the words I said at the multimedia performance of Last Breath / Heartbeat at the Showroom gallery Heartbeat: I knew Straight away When my dad took His LAST BREATH. I stood up. Put my hand on his chest. And now. I’m confused. Cos his Heart. Is Beating. Fast. And Strong. Keeping going. Keeping going. …
Here are the words I said at the multimedia performance of Deathbed Skiing at the Showroom gallery, along with a few images: Deathbed Skiing Later on my dad stops talking. Gets less responsive. More restless restless restless. I want to freshen him up. Put his arms. Around my neck Sit him. Forward. And He. Tries. to get out of …
Here are the words I said at the performance of Black Run at the Showroom gallery, with a few of the many images: Black Run: This is my DAD. He’s an Expert at LIVING. The Doctors told him his Cancer was TERMINAL. But my dad kept on and on EXPERTLY living, living, living. Then one morning. He. Told me. …