Mx.D.P

Been a busy time, great to see my dear friend at his meet the artist night with Aberrations and Ceredigion Museum in conjunction with The British Museum.

Every day is a learning day, and I know I have so much to learn, especially about BAME and colonialism. I grew up in a racist culture and time, yet I grew up with 1st generation kids from immigration in the 60’s and 70’s. That was a wonderful time as kids see kids. I’ve travelled the world and experienced many different cultures, but you can never truly understand someone else’s experience; it’s not yours to know. I remember coming home to my flatmate and being absolutely pissed off at the sexism I experienced as a pilot. My flatmate sighed and said, ‘You can take your pilot uniform off at the end of the day, but I can’t remove my skin.’ …beautiful dark black skin… she was stunning… that was the first time I saw a glimpse of the harm of racism…micro aggressions… race, gender, sexuality, class and wealth…. Rose Thorn talked about the Global Majority… that’s a concept we will all need to understand…

Abid was among the first people I came out to; he is an astonishing artist and a wonderful friend. This piece sees him ‘stim’ rock, filmed in negative image…repeating the phrase… “My Voice is Not Working.”

It did work here; it was uncomfortable and powerful, yet still, institutions do not listen; the art world tokenism is breathtaking and does not listen; our collective ability to turn a blind eye is ours to own… can we listen? Will we listen to the Global Majority…

I am always on guard in lesbian and LGB spaces in general as a non-binary person. Trans folks are the new people to give a kicking to, and TERFS are real, yet the ladies at Aberration always give me a very warm welcome, and I always enjoy their events. As always, it didn’t disappoint, and I’ve made new friends while affirming old friends. My lesbian neighbour told me that she had it out with a TERF, saying my neighbour is Non-Binary; how dare you!

Trans identities, Poly and multiracial relationships are concepts of living with Climate Chaos that need to be acknowledged and explored….

This is a busy week, Sally and I had our first formal meeting about a new art festival. It was productive with actionable ideas and we have organised a follow-up meeting for a fortnight’s time.

I have two sleeves starting this week, one on a tattoo virgin (great sit too, no screaming, fitting or puking always a bonus)

I am making progress on my 4000 design edit. I am at 108 pages now. I have still not decided how I will present this and I keep tinkering with backgrounds, I like these notes too.

Does my illustration style link the different styles? Would it be more interesting to see variation in the pages? Probably the only way to know would be to put it all together and get a test copy printed.

Tomorrow I have the meeting with Clem Crosby about our project and that’s feeling tangible, so looking forward to speaking with Clem again.

Also, tomorrow, I have an online UAL workshop about writing my PhD application. I’ve written my study statement, which will probably change, of course, and I am now looking at how I will conduct my research. What I am doing now in my practice and my MA research paper is fuelling the next stage. It seems organic… like my whole art practice is growing and knitting together… if any of that makes sense, but to me it is starting to.

Meanwhile, back in Borth, it is carnival week, and Alice, my daughter, is coming home and has decided that our house theme is Doctor Who. Keeping in mind my horrendously busy week, the late-night phone call I received yesterday from Alice was… can you paint a weeping Angel, a mystery Doctor and the Tardis in a Borth Van Gough setting…. Yep, no problem…