11.11.20. Dexter's seminar 1, Authenticity vs attachment
Can you find an image that you can have on your desktop to share with the group of an artwork that you liked or were drawn to as a child ( or adolescent) something that you remember coming across and liking.
DON'T overthink this ! The first image that came into your head while reading this is probably IT !
DON'T overthink this ! The first image that came into your head while reading this is probably IT !
1.11.20 Naturally I did overthink this! I have found it an interesting subject to over think though.
This is the image I've chosen:
This is the image I've chosen:
Ophelia, John Everett Millais, 1851-2
'The scene depicted is from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act IV, Scene vii, in which Ophelia, driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover Hamlet, falls into a stream and drowns
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up;
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element; but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.' (Tate, no date)
'Irrationality and super-clarity are the two elements that all dreams seem to have in common.' (Larkin, p1)
Larkin, D. (Ed) (1975) The English Dreamers, London: Pan Books
Tate (no date) Ophelia Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506 (Accessed: 11 November 2020)
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up;
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element; but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.' (Tate, no date)
'Irrationality and super-clarity are the two elements that all dreams seem to have in common.' (Larkin, p1)
Larkin, D. (Ed) (1975) The English Dreamers, London: Pan Books
Tate (no date) Ophelia Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506 (Accessed: 11 November 2020)
Can you also watch this short video of Gabor Maté talking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3bynimi8HQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3bynimi8HQ
Borges, P. (2019) CRAZYWISE Conversations: Gabor Maté – Authenticity vs. Attachment Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3bynimi8HQ (Accessed: 11 November 2020)
My reflections:
Choosing my image - I found it hard to think of an art work that had influenced me before my teens. I'm sure there was art in my family's life as I was growing up - my grandparents were artists and we visited museums regularly. On a trip to Paris when I was 11 we went to a number of the famous galleries, but I remember nothing. This shocks me. I will need to confer with my sisters, I think! Memory is a strange, elusive being.
I chose this rather corny Pre Raphaelite painting because I do vividly remember being obsessed with it during my early teens. I was given a prize for my O- levels and chose a book on the Pre Raphaelites, so that has helped me to date this obsession. I also think it fits with the literature I was reading at the time -Austen, the Brontë's and probably, rather embarrassingly, Georgette Heyer too!- and the group of friends I had at school. I also had very long red hair.
The Pre Raphaelite paintings now remind me of posters on the wall and the images seem rather jaded and passé, but looking at them anew, I can understand why I was so taken with them at the time; they are utterly romantic, yet tragic at the same time. Also, the fact that they often depict characters from myth, poetry and literature would have really appealed to my 15 year old self. It's almost as if they illustrate the inner life of romantic turmoil that I remember so well from that phase of my life. They are dreamlike, fantastical, utterly romantic yet also laden with sorrow.
What strikes me now is the stereotypical portrayal of classical beauty. What an array of beauteous women as role models for a group of adolescent girls to languish over! Impossible to emulate, yet so alluring in their striking poses and despairing attitudes. No wonder we were smitten.
I was interested that 3 other people in the group selected Pre Raphaelites too, not just people of my age but a younger women and one of the younger men too. Dexter said they have become part of our English consciousness. Maybe they have become the bench mark for English romanticism? Now however, I see them as exquisitely executed paintings but they are too sentimental for my taste now.
I think I would quite like to now be asked to choose an art work that influences me now. I would almost certainly choose one of Louise Bourgeois' sculptures, or maybe one of Berlinde de Bruyckere's works? My taste has changed dramatically, not surprisingly, since I was 15. I'm now much more interested in art that has depth and meaning, that makes me think... and that has a dark side! Now, I'd probably choose something like this:
Choosing my image - I found it hard to think of an art work that had influenced me before my teens. I'm sure there was art in my family's life as I was growing up - my grandparents were artists and we visited museums regularly. On a trip to Paris when I was 11 we went to a number of the famous galleries, but I remember nothing. This shocks me. I will need to confer with my sisters, I think! Memory is a strange, elusive being.
I chose this rather corny Pre Raphaelite painting because I do vividly remember being obsessed with it during my early teens. I was given a prize for my O- levels and chose a book on the Pre Raphaelites, so that has helped me to date this obsession. I also think it fits with the literature I was reading at the time -Austen, the Brontë's and probably, rather embarrassingly, Georgette Heyer too!- and the group of friends I had at school. I also had very long red hair.
The Pre Raphaelite paintings now remind me of posters on the wall and the images seem rather jaded and passé, but looking at them anew, I can understand why I was so taken with them at the time; they are utterly romantic, yet tragic at the same time. Also, the fact that they often depict characters from myth, poetry and literature would have really appealed to my 15 year old self. It's almost as if they illustrate the inner life of romantic turmoil that I remember so well from that phase of my life. They are dreamlike, fantastical, utterly romantic yet also laden with sorrow.
What strikes me now is the stereotypical portrayal of classical beauty. What an array of beauteous women as role models for a group of adolescent girls to languish over! Impossible to emulate, yet so alluring in their striking poses and despairing attitudes. No wonder we were smitten.
I was interested that 3 other people in the group selected Pre Raphaelites too, not just people of my age but a younger women and one of the younger men too. Dexter said they have become part of our English consciousness. Maybe they have become the bench mark for English romanticism? Now however, I see them as exquisitely executed paintings but they are too sentimental for my taste now.
I think I would quite like to now be asked to choose an art work that influences me now. I would almost certainly choose one of Louise Bourgeois' sculptures, or maybe one of Berlinde de Bruyckere's works? My taste has changed dramatically, not surprisingly, since I was 15. I'm now much more interested in art that has depth and meaning, that makes me think... and that has a dark side! Now, I'd probably choose something like this:
Louise Bourgeois, Arched figure, 1999
It interests me that these are both depictions of women; the first is stereotypically beautiful, the second is ugly and deformed. Ophelia is depicted as very passive (she's dead!), the arched woman is in the throes of something- is it agony or ecstasy? Millais' work is realism, perfectly executed in traditional oils, Bourgeois' work is abstract, using rough gestural stitches and mismatched pink cloth. It's domestic, feminised, sloppy craft. To me everything about it conveys so much pathos - form, colour, materials, process, mode of installation.
Authenticity vs attachment, Gabor Mate
I found this short video very thought provoking and felt sorry that we didn't have much time to discuss it during the seminar. It really resonated with my experience of growing up and it's clearly linked to individuation, which has been a big part of my work in recent years. Jung suggests that individuation needs to occur in the second half of life as a preparation for death but Fordham maintains that it starts as soon as we are born. I suspect that the two kinds of individuation are slightly different, but both are about finding one's true self. It seems to me that that is a lifetime's work.
As well as thinking about my own quest for authenticity, I also, obviously, thought of my son's quest. I was very interested that a number of people in the seminar, some of them his age, found the 'vs.' strange. For me, it was definitely a case of choosing authenticity over attachment, but if one's outlook on life is less dramatically opposed to one's parents' is there less of a conflict between these two aspects of life, I wonder? It was especially relevant to me that Mate mentioned his own children. Am I now feeling parental guilt? I'm very interested to find out my son's perspective so I've told him about the video and forwarded it to him. I suppose the fact that I can do that is in itself significant. I've always worked hard on letting him be himself, but I suppose the way that each person tackles the struggle for authenticity will vary depending on other factors like personality, self knowledge, opportunity, not just upbringing. And it is something that changes throughout life, I think.
I do feel that making art has helped me to be more authentically my self. The fact that I have come to it so late in life, in my 50s, sometimes makes me feel sad, but I also recognise that being the age I am has meant that I have been privileged to have the time to explore things in greater depth. And I'm ripe for Jung's mid life individuation! Realising that authenticity is the goal of individuation makes so much sense and is very freeing. I will research these ideas further.
I found this short video very thought provoking and felt sorry that we didn't have much time to discuss it during the seminar. It really resonated with my experience of growing up and it's clearly linked to individuation, which has been a big part of my work in recent years. Jung suggests that individuation needs to occur in the second half of life as a preparation for death but Fordham maintains that it starts as soon as we are born. I suspect that the two kinds of individuation are slightly different, but both are about finding one's true self. It seems to me that that is a lifetime's work.
As well as thinking about my own quest for authenticity, I also, obviously, thought of my son's quest. I was very interested that a number of people in the seminar, some of them his age, found the 'vs.' strange. For me, it was definitely a case of choosing authenticity over attachment, but if one's outlook on life is less dramatically opposed to one's parents' is there less of a conflict between these two aspects of life, I wonder? It was especially relevant to me that Mate mentioned his own children. Am I now feeling parental guilt? I'm very interested to find out my son's perspective so I've told him about the video and forwarded it to him. I suppose the fact that I can do that is in itself significant. I've always worked hard on letting him be himself, but I suppose the way that each person tackles the struggle for authenticity will vary depending on other factors like personality, self knowledge, opportunity, not just upbringing. And it is something that changes throughout life, I think.
I do feel that making art has helped me to be more authentically my self. The fact that I have come to it so late in life, in my 50s, sometimes makes me feel sad, but I also recognise that being the age I am has meant that I have been privileged to have the time to explore things in greater depth. And I'm ripe for Jung's mid life individuation! Realising that authenticity is the goal of individuation makes so much sense and is very freeing. I will research these ideas further.