ghostofatree

[ghostofatree]

The Book of Obedience went on over several years but started around the time I first did urban Sketching, invited by @paulg.art I had studied my degree in conceptual fine art, specialising in sculpture, so I imagined it would hard to break into a clique of artists who’s practice was totally different. Paul was right though and they were enormously encouraging and inclusive and interested in what I was doing. The format is that the urban sketchers meet in the first Saturday of each month and draw a particular area of the city decided in advance. They then draw around that area in large enough numbers that one is not alone and circled by critics. It ends with the throw down at the meeting point where we all get to see each other’s work. We are lucky in Liverpool to live in such a stunning city but I would recommend anyone seeing this to find their local urban sketching group on Facebook or here and join in. It helped my confidence and as Frederick Franck said, “I draw for one reason only, to see the world before I die” so drawing for me is also a spiritual practice of placement meditation. Here we have a record of the now removed but iconic Flyover, the Chinese Arch on Chinese New Year, the inside of the Central Library, North John Street and Moorfields station - some years after these drawings I was out with them again today so I include todays drawing of the Metropolitan Cathedral on an old charity shop frame. It was extremely cold today! #sketchbook #sketchbookdrawing #drawing #Liverpool #liverpoolartist #observationaldrawing #urbansketchers #urbansketch #urbansketching #beautifulliverpool #frederickfranck #zenofseeing #liverpoolcathedral #metropolitancathedral (at Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpYSwX7spAU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The Penultimate set from the Book of Lapis shows another project from that year. I had started to visit sites of LGBTQ historical importance such as the Harvey Milk memorial in San Francisco, the Stonewall bar in New York and the Homomonument in Amsterdam. This time I had decided to visit the Alan Turing statue in Manchester to make 7 bowls of offering to the saint. The line from the Buddhist puja “I make offerings at all the holy places and places in which the a Bodhisattvas have been” inspired this set of work. Usually my travelling companion had photographed the prostrations for me but this time my patient friend and fellow Foundation tutor Damian had agreed to come with me do the recording, (which added much to this pilgrimage because I didn’t usually have a fellow artist to notice other details worthy of documentation while I was doing the performance). The first plate is the embossed copper and slate ex voto I made to honour Turing, (shortly after exhibited with #notjustcollective ) Alan Turing was of course a gay man who helped end WWII much earlier and thereby saved hundreds of thousands of lives. In gratitude for this remarkable contribution the government arrested him for his homosexuality, chemically castrated him and caused him to commit suicide. There would be no computers as we know them today without his genius and countless people alive today would have never been born. The hand gesture is a mudra meaning “do not be afraid” the apple he had bitten was laced with cyanide. The second plate I removed my shoes to walk on holy ground to his shrine, on arriving I made appropriate prostrations to him, sat at his feet to request blessings. I offered 7 bowls of water to represent the 7 traditional offerings to a Bodhisattva, and used the holy water to clean the rainbow mosaic at his feet. Only then did I dare sit next to him 🙏 #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #alanturing #enigmacode #saint #hero #martyr #homophobia #immitationgame #blechleypark #computerscience #genius #manchesteruniversity #queerartist #liverpoolartist #icon #exvoto #bodhisattva #pilgrimage #blessings #pridemonth #lgbtq🌈 (at Manchester Gay Village) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cohj1vYMITF/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The Book of Lapis continues with this set. On the day that Colin Becket, Geoff Molyneux and Barb Marshal all retired from teaching the remaining staff realised that suddenly we were the grown ups. The first page is a photo of Colin from that day as I already had halo pics of the others but Colin was (and still is) always elusive. The second is wonderful Linda who agreed to pose for this on our day out in Chester (as a point of information here it should be noted that records prove that @klothears17 is in fact, not a devil woman with evil on her mind but in reality more of a saint than most ). Next was a lino cut of Hugo Chavez gifted to me by Lee from Not Just (who built the goat head in the last post), a drawing of the iron stair case in the Clove Hitch beer garden (god I miss beer gardens in the summer 😕); a five minute drawing without looking at the paper of the Bodhisattva John in that beer garden on the same day and then his drawing of dealing with local seagulls followed by the back of a handsome lad in a pub, the Roman helmet my mum had bought me and a stag and bloke in the Monarch of The Glen, which was the pub where Linda arose as a Devil Woman. For someone who drinks very little I realise how much socialising time I used to spend in pubs and how much I missed that under lockdown #nostalgia #memories #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #saint #devilwoman #roman #queerartist #liverpoolartist #retirement #myteacher #hugochavez #liverpoolpubs #happierdays (at Chester ,UK) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoaxHeSswri/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ghostofatree]

Yesterday’s selection from The Book of Lapis started with drawings from Miramar, my friend’s house near Barmouth. For formatting reasons these too are from that holiday and we’re also party of a Thirty Days of Drawing challenge with an observational drawing each day. The first and second are a view of Cader Idris from Fairbourne beach on local slate. The next was a ceramic goats head made by one of our Not Just Collective artists and bought by Barbara for her conservatory while he was still one of our students on Foundation. Next is the view down the lane from Miramar to the sea. The next weekend was Pride in Liverpool and we had gone for a barbecue at the home of another very generous friend so I made a terrible drawing from his balcony. Next are a few from round my house of a ceramic head of Blessed Oliver Plunket, a potato that had gone mad while we had been in Wales, a Green Man for the Summer Solstice then and now and a carved wooden mask of a monkey demon #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #observationaldrawing #cymru #beautifulwales #caderidris #slate #greenman #summersoltice #queerartist #liverpoolartist #holidays (at Barmouth North Wales) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoNYRIJMF5o/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The Book of Lapis was mostly about recording projects such as “Meeting Saints” but also recorded some travels. This set are not all in chronological order (because Instagram is weird and prescriptive about posting sets of images that have to all be in one format with no variation) so here are some double-page spreads. Suddenly it was summer proper and we had arranged a visit to beautiful Miramar near Barmouth. Miramar is the house of Barhooba, who is very generous and let us borrow her lovely place. The first is sitting under a bridge in the shade drawing Barmouth bay from that side, the second was the spectacular artificial lake of the filled quarry. The copper in the local stone made the water an eerie blue and clear down for many many meters, it was accessible only by the cave mouth. Next is a view from the Fairbourne end of the beach. After Miramar we had a day out in Chester with the Foundation tribe where I drew some ruins. back at home in the new flat on Minster Court I had planted sunflowers on the balcony. Next was a view near Fourstones in a trip up north, followed by another later in the year as winter came again and then the cosy yet splendid Philharmonic pub. This set closes with a Haiku by Ryokan given to me by teacher Buddhashanti to note the turning of the seasons. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #summer #fairbourne #barmouthbeach #beautifulwales #cymru #northumbria #sunflowers #romanruins #chester #queerartist #liverpoolartist #hexham #philharmonic #haikyuu #haiku #ryokan #winter #seasonsturning (at Barmouth North Wales) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn7ezJ9sVFD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The next set from the Book of Lapis is the close of the Meeting Saints project and the several pages of directionless ambling between projects that often arise in sketchbook. The first two are the ritual end of it where the ex voto were placed screwed into the walls on Jordan Street. There is a line from the Buddhist Puja that says “I make offerings at all the holy places and places in which the Bodhisattvas have been” that underpins a lot of my thinking re my pilgrimage projects and let me close this by going to honour the saints in situ. @spells_against_civilisation and I even got a pull from the police while we putting the work up despite us having permission and the festival having been fully licensed by @sullivan_pamela We used the Intervention of Saints to convince them not to arrest to but to join in with the project. The night before several of the ceramic outcomes had been taken - I never knew by whom but I simply replaced them with the gold acetate versions. Following these are some random collage and the start of summer holiday which was a wander around Southport and a pint with Antoinette - who appeared in a vision as a continuous line squiggle #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #liverpoollightnight #saints #realsaints #blessings #beautifulpeople #humangood #queerartist #liverpoolartist #performanceart #inthepresenceofgreatness #hagiography #ceramic (at Jordan Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn2HzdZszO-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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This selection from the Book of Lapis was one of the highlights of the Meeting Saints project for me. There had been a constant stream of people kindly volunteering to do this project, many of them my students at the time and many strangers. The results were beautiful and different from each person. The format was that I would photograph them while I interviewed them and then make an offering of incense or water (which are traditionally offered in Buddhist practice in honour of Bodhisattvas or Buddha’s). The Rhythm had been pretty stable until (the decidedly Jesus-like) Saint Heksen of Estonia arrived and sat for his portrait shot. Before we began the offerings part he reached into his bag and made an offering to me of some incense he was carrying. The symbolism was so fortunate in line with what I was doing and I suddenly thought, “woah, a real one! He spent the time discussing accessing higher forms of consciousness and then spoke to the students and started discussing really profound stuff too. I couldn’t have planned it better and got a shot of him expounding the Dharma with the halo behind him. This is his finished ex-Voto, his portrait, one of him actually handing me the incense where I look bemused and slightly monkey-faced, him teaching the faithful and expounding some holy truths. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #liverpoollightnight #saints #realsaints #blessings #beautifulpeople #humangood #queerartist #liverpoolartist #performanceart #inthepresenceofgreatness #hagiography #ceramic (at Jordan Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnw5qWXsASx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Today’s post from the Book of Lapis continues the Meeting Saints project. It opens with some of the finished ex-votos arrayed together and then Saint Colin of Milton Keynes and Saint Mummy of Sefton Park, (again on re-fired ceramic tiles for Jordan Street). After this are several more pages of process shots of loosing the light. A portable spotlight would have been one answer to this practical problem. Next were some pages of notes from the meetings. Finally, a test print on acetate with gold spray paint behind. These were used when the saint icons were taken by passers by. I didn’t see that as theft, or even a problem and liked the idea that some saints may find homes in other people’s houses without me knowing but chose to replace them with these ghost versions (as though the holiness of the saint remained even after their physical form disappeared). To reiterate, my reclaiming of the halo as a symbol was a political comment on how the hierarchy of churches and institutions get to decide who is worthy (and thus by implication, who are not - usually such as LGBTQ people) So the reclaiming of the halo was for me initially a subversion of Christian hierarchical hegemony. By deciding that each person was a saint it rejected the concept of original sin and hence the need for redemption by blood and took the Buddhist stance that every living being, far from being stained by original sin, in fact has the seed of Buddha nature in them, ready to blossom. This view sees that from the very beginning all beings are perfect and are only clouded by delusion, (from whence suffering arises). What amazed me about this project was the performance of meeting passers-by as saints conferred a huge unexpected emotional blessing on me myself, where I felt I had actually met saints. It was kind of overwhelming and joyful. Some comments from the saints almost brought me to tears. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #lightnightliverpool #saints #performanceart #blessings #beautifulpeoples #myhonour #realsaints #queerartist #liverpoolartist #streetartfestival #howbeautiful #goodpeople #ceramics (at Jordan Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnpKTeQse2S/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The Book of Lapis continues with the third set from the Meeting Saints performance. Like I said previously I found this set of work very rewarding because I had intended to gently make a point about hierarchy but opened a door for me to experience these glimpses of human goodness (which philosophically I already knew were Buddha nature but hadn’t had the chance to glimpse them in a flurry of person after person). I found the experience beautiful from my side so I hope that translates into the work. On the learning side I had bought a new camera for this event but not ordered it in time to become really familiar with it so as the day pressed into evening and the performance started there were only a few hours of radiant light left and gradually it came to photographing in the dark. The flash was too stark and some of the darker images, although I’m glad I did them were too dark to work on the decals for ceramic. One lives and learns. Here are Saints Kitty and Phil, the photos here were not record the actual outcomes but that I had screwed then to the walls of Jordan Street so each had two small screws through the top. After that are the interview photographs of both saints and then other saints and an example of some of the interview notes I was recording while speaking to the saints. As the photos got darker the work was really glowing so I continued because I was feeling so blessed by this point but even these would not have been possible without the intervention of Saint Bronek who stepped down a stairway of seven clouds to earth when I needed divine intervention to show me how the light meter was going wrong #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #liverpoollightnight #saints #realsaints #blessings #beautifulpeople #humangood #queerartist #liverpoolartist #performanceart #inthepresenceofgreatness #hagiography #ceramic (at Jordan Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnmrhWZMpVa/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ghostofatree]

Yesterday’s post from the Book of Lapis was the start of the Meeting Saints project. Today I open with the finished ex-voto to two of them, Saint Lizzy of Crosby and Saint Ann of Glasgow, who had suffered the “creeping of the glaze”, (resulting in the distortion of the image and the round bubbles on the surface- despite this her faith remained strong). They were on re-fired ceramic tiles that matched the red brick of the local vernacular around Jordan Street. The photo images were decal printed onto the tiles and fired as glaze. This was done by the kindness and blessings of Saint Richard, Protector of the Kiln. After this are several pages of process shots which I took to start the the interviews off, with a page of notes of what I needed to gather for the performance. My reclaiming of the halo as a symbol was a political comment on how the hierarchy of churches and institutions get to decide who is worthy (and thus by implication, who are not - usually such as LGBTQ people) So the reclaiming of the halo was for me initially a subversion of Christian hierarchical hegemony. By deciding that each person was a saint it rejected the concept of original sin and hence the need for redemption by blood and took the Buddhist stance that every living being, far from being stained by original sin, in fact has the seed of Buddha nature in them, ready to blossom. This view sees that from the very beginning all beings are perfect and are only clouded by delusion, (from whence suffering arises). What amazed me about this project was the performance of meeting passers-by as saints conferred a huge unexpected emotional blessing on me myself, where I felt I had actually met saints. It was kind of overwhelming and joyful. The comments from each person almost brought me to tears. This first plate is just one example how beautiful that was. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #lightnightliverpool #saints #performanceart #blessings #beautifulpeoples #myhonour #realsaints #queerartist #liverpoolartist #streetartfestival #howbeautiful #goodpeople #ceramics (at Jordan Street) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnUo2mHMU1G/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Apart from learning the basics of printmaking I was enjoying a lot of a return to observational drawing for its own sake in the Book of Lapis. The Zen Bodhisattva of drawing Frederick Franck (who wrote “The Awakened Eye” and “The Zen of Seeing”), had said, “I draw for one reason only, to see the world before I die” in that sense he was describing observational drawing as a mindfulness practice. I think I was quite taken by that view. This set is two self portraits, (The second as wrathful Bodhisattva) a wooden carving of the Green Man, my feet (that drawing that every artist does when there is nothing interesting to draw). A collections of masks on top of the cd cases is next and a graphite study of my wooden Buddha followed by a bag on the seat of a train going somewhere I can’t remember. To close are three Foundation drawing exercises of the same wooden Buddha. The first in continuous line and left handed and the other two just in continuous line. We set these challenging exercises to force students to let go of their preciousness about making “perfect” drawings and to break their expectations about outcome. I still use them now because I think they are a beautiful way to see and record. #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #observationaldrawing #buddha #meditation #frederickfranck #seeing #selfportraitdrawing #drawingasdiary #queerartist #liverpoolartist (at Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnE7T-lMwM8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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I was doing some work a few years when everything seemed more joyful and I started producing these urban typos - they were images selected to suggest letters from the environment based on walks mostly around the lovely area I am lucky enough to live in in Liverpool but some as far as days out in Manchester. I felt like after such a grim few tears I wanted to revisit these innocent little wanderings so I’ve produced them as digital prints for my Etsy shop ( link in bio above) these versions are limited edition signed small poster sized digital prints at £15 each or a discount for the full set. (There are also more budget version postcards of these that are available but not yet on Etsy but can do them by message) HOPE is all images from the wonderful Hope Street area. HOME is all from half a mile from where I live, LIFE is all from local plants finding unlikely places to take root and LOVE is from a day out in the Village in Manchester #urbanphotography #urbantypography #liverpool #hopestreet #love #life #hope #home #homedecor #digitalart #digitalprint #digitalcollage #etsyshop #christmasgifts (at Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl6XnJZswI6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The Book of Learning had been sketchbook 19 and next was the Book of Gaps. I cannot yet archive that book because it recorded the years around loosing my amazing mum and I am not yet brave enough to revisit it in detail. It led to a show called Square Mile in #thebridewellstudiosandgallery but for now I will show sketchbook 21, after a period of grieving in which making art was impossible a few years later the Book of Lapis, the cover of which was dedicated to my protector Saint Derek of Dungeness in his Blue Lapis Pureland and based clumsily in his own gold-leaf Square covers. For some reason Houdini was there and the inner cover is a self portrait as shadow over the angel wings made by one of my excellent Foundationers. I was delighted to be invited by @spells_against_civilisation to join #notjustcollective and came up with some early lino cuts to honour dissident political groups such as the Diggers, The Levellers, The Suffragettes The Luddites, The Saboteurs etc. Plate 6 was a quote from Gerrard Winstanley and I printed this image into a gold-leafed spade for him. there was a vegan glass raised, (appropriately enough at this point in time as we as a culture start to wake up the murder, exploitation and privilege that has pretended to be acceptable to now) of to anti slavery local lad William Roscoe. Finally a little more success that year as the mighty Kitt Cherry had managed to get an article about my work mentioning Nicolay Alexyve. The article was taken down soon after so it was an honour to have been censored by Putin but I printed off a translation before that #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #linocut #derekjarman #derekjarmanblue #lapis #diggers #luddite #saboteur #queerartist #gerrardwinstanley #nicolayalexieve #sochiolympics (at The Georgian Quarter) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClgkNqNsa0_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ghostofatree]

The final set from the Book of Learning opens with an Artrage painting of the lovable Judge Death, (who had kindly agreed to sit for a portrait before judging me), following this is a young man in a pub drawn with different line qualities that seem to accentuate his teeth- possibly influenced by Judge Death too. After that was a cut out raven made from a leaflet about the dashing Ray Mears. It was stored in between sketchbook pages and seemed to be pecking the eye of a woman I had drawn in a cafe. The two were randomly overlaid but seeing it I had to glue the bird in and title it “ow my friggin eye!” (🤣 apologies to anyone who has been savaged by crows as I am sensitive to this being a real and increasing problem in the Uk ). After that we’re two pages of planning for a lino cut that never happened, a page of pictograms of Tory back-benchers, a young man watching sports tv in a bar, a page of doodling during an interminable grim meeting with managers- it was based on a speaker system in the wall and seemed to be a ghost screaming but the “Patronising Bastard” was a tribute to either Gill Banks or the monstrous Angela Cox- both of whom were part of the assault in our wellbeing that day. The last page was a fragment of the cover of an old Bible and the title of a sketchbook yet to come #sketchbook #drawing #drawingsketch #nostalgia #memories #judgedeath #judgedredd #2000ad #raven #toryscum #lamentations #queerartist #liverpoolartist (at Liverpool) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cld9b_2M25r/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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The Bridewell show “Seven” ended today, there are still a few more to show. This was the recently finalised tribute to my dad(and something of a visual apology for how belligerent I often was with him). It’s a miniature Lararium (which was a Roman household shrine to personal protector deities and ancestors). Each home would have different emphases on which holy beings were venerated, in a much more intimate and emotional way than public displays at the state temples. Dad was an old fashioned Scouse working class factory worker. His masculinity was very traditional and very different to my queer punk anarcho sensibility. To define myself against his expectations was often fractious for both of us. Even before I came out I felt I somehow disappointed his expectation. I developed a view of him as authoritarian (which after his death I realised he was very far from and often just hid his feelings as I learned more about him). It felt all too late to have the deeper friendship with him I should have had. Loosing him was so much harder than I could have imagined and I wish I had had just a few more years with him. This shows him, his cigarette case with offerings of matches and rizla. Other offerings are also inside, including a fragment of the True Cross to inform the viewer that this is an altar. Surrounding him are my first Pride badge and photo negatives. I demanded immediate acceptance by t was a lot for him to process and I was not as flexible and compassionate as I should have been. The Blue is Derek Jarman’s blue, from his film exploring his symptoms with AIDS - which were very similar to what dad went through with chemo. I built this at @jezdolan s excellent workshop at the Jarman Protest show. The Blue is actually @culturehustle blue (made from the powdered and blessed bones of Yves Klein, rather than real International Blue or the slow blue delphinium days of Saint Derek). I got to spend some better quality time with him very near the end, it just should have been longer to resolve what I could have to make him proud. Love you dad, wish I’d said it more at the time. #assemblageart #shrine #lararium #offering #pride #dadsandsons #sorry #fatherforgiveme (at Bridewell Studios) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClSOQl6KXG6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ghostofatree]

Another of the reliquary objects on show at the 7 exhibition at @bridewellstudiosliverpool - it’s still open today and tomorrow 12-4pm. This one is not assemblage but altered found photo from a little later than the ones I have shown recently. I had found a framed photo of a boy (who looked very like me when I was his age). It was in the old Red brick Vintage when it was really good there, (before they tragically made the disappointing decision to pass the best space in to some developer of other and move the antiques and collectibles into a stall area which lost most of its charm). There was this young lad who’s photo was for sale as bric-à-brac. It was hand tinted and I guessed very old. (Possibly my previous incarnation). A portrait photo then would have been very expensive and demonstrated how loved he was. The fact that it was now sold as curio spoke of the end of his line and him having been forgotten. I had to rescue him. My traditional offering of a gold-leaf halo was applied and I wanted to letraset a dedication. All this time I had been reading stats on levels of homelessness and substance dependency in the LGBT community. Much of this arose from rejection, often from parents and family when the previously very loved child came out and revealed their queer identity. The two things became entangled in my narrative approach and this beautiful kid became the patron saint of abandoned boys and blessed me with the recognition of how tolerant and supportive my own parents had been. Pueri Sancti Patroni Relicta Ora Pro Nobis - Omni Sancti Innocentes Orate Pro Nobis. (Patron Saint of Abandoned Boys Pray for Us, All You Holy Innocents Pray For Us). As though in comment on his own grief, after how ever many years intact, the ancient glass slid from its frame and shattered into sharp tears on the floor of the gallery. The making of relics is the telling of stories in physical form. #martyrs #saintsebastian #arrows #groupshow #exhibition #relic #reliquary #assemblage #foundphoto #adjustedphotograph #goldleaf #goldfinger #letraset #queerart #queerartist #bridewellstudios #blessthechild #stophomophobia #protecttranskids #translivesmatter #abandonment_issues (at Bridewell Studios) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClOROhPsfD7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ghostofatree]

Another set of the small reliquary assemblages on show at the 7 exhibition at @bridewellstudiosliverpool - it’s open for the next few days, 12-4pm up to and including Tuesday. These are echoes of older work from the Bridewell when I re-enacted the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian with a full sized plaster statue and made a short film of this. This one is one of the arrowheads, which had struck him in the shoulder and a small viol of the tears of his mother, (known as a lachrymonial). Surprisingly, the actual tears of Saint Sebastian’s mother are very difficult to source and largely out of stock in most places, (so I had to compromise and use fragranced essential oil instead but the visual symbolism was the same). I had imagined even after the terrible threats and torture of the Roman authorities he clearly would not submit. The faith of a martyr is a very obstinate thing and after every possible manipulation I had envisaged them bringing his poor mother to witness the brutality against him; imagining that seeing her heartbreak would force him to submit. That would have failed. The tears are mounted over a rubbing of my partner Kev’s grandmother’s cross - so I wanted that to feel like a real personal belonging. The making of relics is the telling of stories in physical form. #martyrs #saintsebastian #arrows #groupshow #exhibition #relic #reliquary #assemblage #assemblageart #queerart #queerartist #bridewellstudios (at Bridewell Studios) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClL5aFxsMYD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=