The next exhibition is the Art of Caring at St George's Hospital in May (and then onto St Pancras Hospital in July). The deadline is 7th April 2019 so please send in your artwork (It's free to enter) and support the nurses, carers and the NHS. http://collectconnect.blogspot.com/p/submit.html
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| Tracy Boness - #unsettledgallery No.8, London Bridge |
Art - Tracy Boness / Words -
Francesca Albini
Precious and frayed,
Tangled and free,
Caught in a net,
Sparkling diamonds,
Our love
Eternal
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| Melanie Honebone |
Art - Melanie Honebone / Words - Ed
Arantus
That knot in the pine brow
A cut near the front eye
The moon is high; from sides of the
world where nightmares grow
You made all my fears and,
You held them in raptures
But there's no magic without death you
said
You are a belief, short rotting
A prophecy dying on a dull mind
You can save your second coming,
I'm not the kind you need to pray for
Now I know where we went wrong
Growing green branches from dead wood
And I still swear that you can’t save
me
Even when push, came to push, came to
shove
Well you can swallow that sweet breath
baby,
Until your death is the magic of love.
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| Stella Tripp |
Art - Stella Tripp / Words - Kevin
Acott
One World
People have asked me what Nelson would
think about Trump and all the hate swirling across the earth.
Sometimes I tell them they should listen to The Three Great Alabama
Icons by Drive-By Truckers. Sometimes I tell them Nina accused Nelson
once of being 'no better than the rest of your people'. Sometimes I
ask them why they really want to know.
The first and last interview I did with
Nelson, he was drunk, drunker even than other people had led me to
expect. We were in his room in some crappy hotel in Mile End and at
one point he started talking about desire and Muddy Waters and - of
all people - Bertrand Russell. He said Russell was convinced desire
dictated everything we did, good and bad. To Nelson, Russell’s
‘desire’ wasn't about sex. He meant, instead, that even when we
try to do good, it's because of desire: our desire to possess, to
compete and overcome other people, to look good in the eyes of the
world, to have power over ourselves, others, the whole world. To
become, ultimately, God.
He told me all this and I listened and
tried to follow and tried to make notes and then I watched him tip
gently back onto the bed and start snoring.
So. We want the best for others because
we want to become God. Nelson's 'Kissinger Blues' was, I'd always
thought, simply about how there's something evil in each of us, a
Kissinger, a Hitler, a Trump. But in that East End hotel, I suddenly
realised it wasn't that straightforward: have a look at/listen to the
YouTube video of Nelson playing it at Glastonbury in '75 and the
extra, rambling verses and see what he does with the song he'd once
vowed never to play again: he's saying (I think) that by pretending
to have good motives for being good, rather than accepting the
universality of desire, of egocentricity, we not only miss the point,
we find ourselves unable to truly fight racism, hate, division. I
could tell you I'm writing this purely because I want to convince you
of the genius of Chopsticks Nelson and help preserve his memory. But
I also want to accrue, to possess, I also want you to respect me and
give me power and a way of being, however temporary, that makes me
feel good. And - if we can both accept that – we can eventually
find peace and love and the joy of singing a single, shared song.
From the epilogue to 'Chopsticks
Nelson: A Southern Life' by Kevin Acott (2019).
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| Dean Reddick |
Art - Dean Reddick / Placement - Walthamstow
To see all the posts from this exhibition in one thread then click here - http://collectconnect.blogspot.com/search/label/Love%20Tokens%20and%20Bad%20Pennies
