For Iris.
You asked for a manifesto, and here one is. It’s a bit of a mashup, and a wee bit sketchy. A Frankenstein manifesto. Built of elements sourced and paraphrased from all over the place, put together in a way that attempts to make sense of my practice and how I make.
I begin with research around an idea. I obsess over it. It fills my head, completely, overwhelmingly. Everything revolves around this idea. Then I need to take time to give it space. Try not to rush it. To unfocus for a while. My themes tend towards the dark side, so I have to escape them for a bit. For my own sanity.
Then, when all the madness dissipates, I begin.
An ode to my making bench.
First
Research. A lot. And widely.
Feel all the things.
Feel the hard things. The inexplicable things.
Feel all the maddening paradoxes.
Feel overwhelmed, crazy.
Feel uncertain. Feel angry.
Feel the things that make you question humanity’s capacity for redemption.
Feel afraid. Feel powerless.
Feel frozen.
Next
Get out.
Get out from your car, your cave, your house.
From the place you feel safe.
From that place that you are.
Get out and go exploring.
Go funning.
Get out of your head. Go wild.
Observe
Notice the ground beneath your feet.
Wander every day.
Consider everything alive and animate.
Look closer.
Watch for long durations – and short ones.
Pay attention to the stories going on around you.
Recognise patterns.
Make connections.
Study movement.
Initiate a personal conversation with the environment.
Chat with it.
Trace things back to their origins.
Use all your senses.
Allow ideas to come in.
Question everything that you have been told.
Use your imagination and your intuition.
Follow hunches.
Go towards what you are drawn to and what repels you.
Encourage your own wild nature.
Document your findings and ideas.
Make field notes.
Only then
Pick up your pen.
Pick up your saw.
Put your two calloused hands on the bench, in the clay, on the metal.
Get behind your camera. Look for that pinprick of light.
Focus on that light. Enlarge it.
Get after that light.
Aftermath
Stop.
Examine.
Interrogate.
Push. Pull.
Refocus.
Question the dialogue.
Let it sit for a while.
Consider.
Revisit. Refine.
Recognise
This is your moment
to be bold.
To take slow deep breaths and quick shallow ones.
To be still and stirred.
To tell your story.
To make.