Tatler 18 July 2013

August 1 2013

Had my first experience with media, the article written in the Southern Suburbs Tatler. I am powerless over what others write, first reaction! I have had comeback from the article, many people saw it and one woman even tracked me down as a result. Unfortunately the title as been misunderstood and misquoted so no one has access to the social media formats.

I have been pondering about the writing I am doing, the reporting on comments and conversations. It is all my interpretation, no matter how accurate I try to be to the source. The exercise of giving an unbiased, objective, neutral report seems naïve and idealistic. It also masks my self esteem issues of not wanting to make a stand for fear of criticism or that my position is not good enough.

An important aspect to this work is the ‘standing’ (or sitting) up, that I put myself out there in public domain, claim right to occupy space, to participate in public space, to engage with and in public spaces. I have had 2 years of applications denied, of both public and private spaces. The piece entails standing up and making a stand.

Another aspect of the plasticity of written content was recently reinforced for me by a BBC documentary ‘The Genius of Design’. The last installment begins with a design commentator stating that future archaeological digs on the current [post]modern time will uncover plastic. That we have had an Iron Age a Bronze Age, we are the Plastic Age! This struck me as being poignant. We live in a fluid malleable reality; even our knowledge and writing is plastic. If I publish something on the web, I can change it next week. I can constantly change and rewrite my story.