tale to tale

Mum is resting in a hospice and we’ve taken the opportunity whilst she’s here to reminisce with her, I asked “what was your favourite holiday?”

She replied “Oh not right now”, she shut down the conversation. She was knackered.

After she said that, I thought, what does it matter? Her favourite? Anyone’s ‘favourite’.

To signify that one of our childhood holidays would be her favourite almost negates the enjoyment of the others, or at least, it sets a hierarchy.

And then I thought, why the hell do we do something like this?

Why do we compare experiences of our past and give some higher status to others?

Sure, we may have a more pleasant experience, richer memories or more to take away from some trips than others, but does that mean that we should concentrate our story telling on one trip, over and over.

Why one. Why do we do this? Why do we have a favourite colour, animal, band, live performance, stag trip, night out etc.

We limit ourselves to these singular things, for what, labels, identity, pride?

Although she wasn’t trying to teach me a lesson and just wanted me to shut up, ultimately she did.

I think we could stop this more in our day to day lives –  to take the pressure off ourselves and just say:

“Oh, I don’t have one”

I fell into this trap during my podcast, Footprints.

I’d ask each guest to tell me about their favourite day (so far) and I’d hear beautiful and hilarious stories.

But it’s the alternative answers that I remember most:

I had Jamie who answered with a moment rather than a day, when they wake up next to their partner and realise they get to spend the rest of their life with them.

I had Emma who created her perfect day, which was lovingly family orientated and involved their perfect meals.

And I had John, who answered “everyday”.

Perhaps there’s more to take away from these answers than I thought – I palmed them off at first for being lazy (confession), but that’s not true at all.

Our favourite day. Our favourite holiday. Favourites. Why pick one? When you can have them all.

My favourite holidays will be the ones where I can explore to my heart’s content, learn and relax.

But why must there be a singular favourite, what’s the point of that? How limiting.

Walthamstow’s William Morris Gallery, presents the Radical Landscapes exhibition which showcases artist’s relationships to the landscapes that surround them.

Above: Chris Killip’s photoraphs on Lynemouth beach

It aims to present how landscape art can ‘enable self-expression yet also impose social constructs’. The latter is highlighted in BBC’s John Berger Ways of Seeing (1972) that theorises that art like Thomas Gainsborough’s Mr and Mrs Andrews (1750) – where the landowners foreground the landscape – explores ‘expressions of power and wealth’, Berger observes “theirs is private land”.

A still image from the BBC’s ‘Ways of Seeing’, specifically showing Thomas Gainsborough’s ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’.

Artists like Derek Jarman show a deep connection with personal land through The Garden; a collection of home movies and photographs.

Hurvin Anderson’s “seemingly abstract” painting Double Grille presents the artist’s ‘dislocation’ by referencing the security grilles found around properties in Jamaica.

Double Grille by Hurvin Anderson

And Chris Killip explores the area of Lynemouth Beach in their collection of photographs of this exclusive territory.

The exhibition’s statement reflects that ‘considering these artists’ relationships to the rural landscape over different times and regions offers a productive set of contradictions to explore’ which is evident from the mixture of art styles.

Turner’s The Lake, Petworth, Sunset; Sample Study (c.1827) shows the expanse of the British countryside, whereas Jeremy Deller’s piece (A303) Built By Immigrants, a road sign – offers an industrial and ‘demonised’ environment.

Jeremy Deller’s piece, (A303) Built By Immigrants

Attendees can also watch two short films In The Area (1990-1993) by Sara Sender following the antics of the Spiral Tribe and The Private View by Wilma Johnson about neo naturists of 1980s Britain.

Both pieces alongside Abel Holsborough’s portraits of residents of Walthamstow (in Small Things Are Possible) lay true to the exhibition’s mission by showing us that ‘These artists are engaging in artistic strategies as a way to make their own claims on how to define themselves’.

This free exhibition ran from the 23rd October and finished on the 18th February.

This article was written for an assignment I made for the London School of Journalism, I chose this exhibition as who doesn’t love a landscape?

Plus, the opportunity to see works by Turner or Gainsborough is never one to miss.

I’ve not written a report like this before, and nor have I ever edited something down to a word count since I left high school. The results of editing the report down to a fine toothcomb ended up better than I expected – the report flows quicker and I get to my points a lot quicker.

I’ll continue this journey for the next year, before settling in to what kind of articles I’d like to write.

I’ve been struggling on how to best relaunch the blog – I, with many of my past projects – seem to run at it at full speed, and then have absolutely no clue what I’m doing when I get there.

With the London School of Journalism course going on and the rebooting of the Tale to Tale blog, I’ve struggled to land my feet on what I want this to be.

Eventually I’ll be adding interviews, travel reports, news stories, reviews and the like, but at my heart sits poetry, journalling and creative writing.

But that’s a bit much for an audience to take, right? Surely as a reader you want to know what to expect from your blogger.

If you’re following a blog called ‘Metal Chipmunk Reviews’ you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. It’s either for Rock album reviews or for people who review metal sculptures of chipmunks.

With ‘Tale to Tale’ even I don’t know what “tales” I’m referring to.

Perhaps in time this blog will find it’s footing, and I’ll feel more comfortable with what I’m bringing to the table, and in fact, more assured.

Because one thing I’ve noticed with successful blogs (and by ‘successful’ I’m referring to profiles with a healthy subscriber count) they seem to have a consistent output of material, all themed, and related purely to the author’s interests.

Personally, it’s a hard time for me and my family. My Mum is going through secondary liver cancer and for the last few months we’ve been looking after her in the hospice.

So I’ve been distracted but I’ve appreciated the extra time we get with her, that in itself is a blessing.

It feels like since turning 30 that I’ve followed the traditional ‘get your life together’ path, which in light of recent hurdles that goal has been halted.

So, whilst I’m here, I’ll keep throwing absolutey random shit out, and get a feel of what I want this platform to be.

In the grand distance I have an idea of who I want to be and what kind of work I want to make, but that’s the great thing about my goals being distant, there’s a whole journey in between.

https://open.spotify.com/show/78ccpneE2cxmixu1Edcxg6?si=bfb358d5a5574c2a

‘Footprints: The People Podcast’

My show Footprints was my lockdown-podcast, it ran for three seasons during 2021-2022.

Each episode had a new guest, ranging in age, ethnicity and interests. My goal was to collect and interview a dynamic range of passions, however specific.

‘Doctor Who’, ‘Laughter’, ‘Spiritual Activism’, ‘African Creatives in London’, ‘Authenticity’ and yes even. ‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race‘.

The guests would also provide two of their favourite songs at the time, one song upbeat, and the other the song you can’t stop listening to.

This was one of my favourite parts in the podcast, as I’m a big lover of music and would gladly sit and listen to these tracks on repeat. I always loved thinking, ‘so they love this song? let me hear why’.

If you listen on Spotify from the link above (or below), the tracks are intertwinned in the podcast, almost like a radio program.

Included in each episode is a moment of reflection where each guest looks on one of their best days, and a moment of stress when they’re subject to a short quiz.

In truth, it’s one of the projects I’ve made that I’m most proud of, below is a quote from my tale to tale post (2021):

In a time of isolation and global sadness, I’ve made this podcast to ignite a fire in my guests, to only think of the good. 
We launch Thursday 22/04/2021, 6pm GMT with Kristin talking about Female Voices.
Footprints is a passion project of mine, to give others the platform to share theirs. We’re listening to others and seeing what it’s like to live in their shoes

Happy listening, I hope you like it!

ps. I made all of this from scratch from my own PC, the music, the editing, all of it.

I’ll do a post one day about that process. Credit to my friend David for providing the silly voiceovers.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cApddQIRUDntr3wEAhXfc?si=b8692d353a754d52

I’m not missing the bygone days – some tradition have rightfully faded away into history.

But there is a significant want for community and tradition, especially in today’s times.

Living in the UK, annual traditions seem to only stay within families, aside from commercial or foreign festivities.

The closest thing we have to maintaining a long standing tradition is either our sporting history, the monarchy (which recently has shown it’s worth) and hushed pagan rituals.

Whenever I am lucky enough to travel, I love seeking out the traditions and festivities of other cultures.

My time in Vilanova i la geltru, Catalonia, had me on the edge of my seat, as weekly they’d throw a huge town festival celebrating a range of mediums. From harvest festivals, to devils and even festivals dedicated to horses.

In the UK we’ve lost this on a national scale.

But inside our local cheese rolling, solstice and summer fayre antics we have a very personal national pride.

And it would be nice if I could use my blog to share them.

So if you – a passer-by – happen to know of any, please let me know in the comments.

It’s my goal for this blog to capture the tales we tell from person to person. The golden nuggets of our civilisations. The festivals, the art and the celebrations of every kind.