People wrapped up for winter this week..why? Cos it’s fookin freezin. I don’t have any snow shots cos I live in central london where the snow settles for about a minute before evaporating into thin air but here are a few heavily attired Londoners making practical yet still fashionable solutions to the sub zero conditions…
And no, just because it’s artic temperatures doesn’t sadly mean that global warming isn’t happening. It’s just a cold spell.
And for the record if you live in a society where people cannot afford to heat your home when it’s this friggin cold your society is broken.
All shots this week part of my ongoing series: “R u talkin to me“. Now that I am back out and about I am currently getting all my info from the street which are when you think about the original information super highway (that really looked like it was gonna be a keeper for a while). Why don’t I look online or read a newspaper like everybody else? Well this is because I have essentially cut myself off from all news sources, firstly by necessity but now by choice.
For the most part of the last 18 months or so I have been unable to read more than a couple of lines of anything before my brain capsized. So consequently my ability to stay up with current affairs drastically diminished. I quickly went from being a voracious news hound to a lackadaisical (such a good word, really don’t use enough) uniformed mutt.
At first it was incredibly frustrating but overtime a positive emerged. Namely I had been liberated from the doom scroll. I was no longer being relentlessly bombarded by the daily horror show and my mood instantly improved. I felt calmer. More at ease. Less angst ridden. Well not by the news at any rate. I was blissfully ignorant and found I was filled with less daily dread yet as my cognitive ability improved I started glancing back at the headlines. I couldn’t help myself. But every time I did my mood plummeted and it also affected my health. It just made me feel, why am I even bothering to get better? It killed my will to improve and so in the interest of self-preservation I am now keeping the relentless feed of misery at arm’s length. I can’t let it back in yet, not while I am just starting to find my feet again..
I used to feel you had to be informed, it was some sort of moral obligation and that the old ostrich approach was what has got us into all this mess in the first place. But the way I see it is that the things that really need to be happening aren’t happening, so why do I need to pay attention? Why should I check in just to watch the powers-that-be not doing what they should be doing? And then having to listen to the relentless bullshit as to why they continue to ignore the all encompassing tidal wave that is coming towards us. And obviously this isn’t the first time. They have been ignoring the advice of experts on a multitude of matters for a very long time..a few examples incoming..
When our Government was informed that inequality was the root cause of most of the society’s problems and that equal societies were better for everyone did they listen? did they act? did they fuck..
When our Government was informed that excessive testing harmed young children’s educational development did they listen? did they act? did they fuck…
When our Government was informed that it would be better across the board to legalise drugs did they listen? did they act? did they fuck…
When our Government was informed that we must phase out fossil fuels and invest in renewables immediately to have a chance in hell of maintaining a liveable planet did they listen? did they act? did they fuck!
They ain’t listening to the information being fed to them so why should we waste our time listening to them? They clearly aren’t paying attention to what needs to be done so what’s the point of paying attention to them? They are not concerned with our well being. Or our future. I mean, anyone who wants to ban wind farms in the middle of a cost of living/energy crisis when it’s the cheapest cleanest energy available in this country is not someone who is woking with your best interests at heart It is someone you need to remove. As well as every other elected twat protecting the oil industry instead of the people they represent.
It’s like getting in pest control to fix your rodent problem only to discover they’re in cahoots with the rats. As I have said before our leaders are not leading the way, they are in the way. They are problems not solutions and their actions infuriate me to a level of anger I cannot still currently deal with so until I can I will avoid avoid avoid. Although as you can see I am getting my rant back on so feeling better ;)
And so the other day, I bring my camera out for the first time in months as I finally feel well enough to go out once more in search of the ultimate picture and as I hit street level (not literally, I didn’t fall over, this isn’t a tragic story) I am met with this glorious sight…the low winter sun beaming straight down onto the pavement in front of me, literally lighting up the path ahead of me, beckoning me forward and ushering me safe passage through the darkness..did I take it as a sign? Fuck yeah.
Having been housebound for so long and not been able to get further than down the road and back I feel like someone who has just got out of prison..again. The air is crisp, the colours are beautiful. I have a large unbreakable grin on my face. I can walk further and faster than I have done for months and that is nothing short of magnificent. I gaze in wonder at everything around me, like a child mesmerised by even the tiniest of things. I will never take this for granted. It is glorious.
I’ve had enough of being on the subs bench, watching life from the sidelines. I want back in. And I’m not going to stop till I am fully ensconced back into the land of the living. Yes the world is full of horror, chaos, injustice and anxiety but being part of life is a rare and beautiful privilege and you gonna spend a fuck load of time not in it so you might as well soak up as much as you can…
My drawings are ultimately created by mistakes. I never pencil first and never erase my errors, I instead let them guide me. If a line veers off in the wrong direction (which happens frequently as I draw very fast) I don’t give up and start again, I run with it, I shape it, I fix it, I mould it into something else. For example this illustration evolved because I fucked up her torso and had to give her a backpack to make it look right which then progressed into what you now see. In fact all these drawings emerged because I ended up trying to rectify a pen misfire. These finished products were never my intention as I never have one but I believe sub-consciously they were lurking in my brain and so what I tend to do is splice a few pen marks onto the paper and see if I can hoist out something from the depths of mind like a fisherman with a hook.
I truly believe it is our mistakes that make us the people we are, not our successes. Our fuck ups are what drive us to be better and so we should not live in fear of them happening, we should embrace them, welcome them, thank them for the opportunity to teach us and make us more than we were. And that is why I like to leave my mistakes in. This is why I would never personally want to draw with an ipad or whatever. I know you can get amazing results but everything comes out perfect..and who wants that?
Hope you’ve enjoyed this ink filled experience. This is actually going to my last drawing post as am feeling a lot better so gonna get back to my photography and hit the streets of Laandan town once more…normal service will resume!
