01. The Mourning After is a project that invites people to explore grief in all its forms. It’s focused on grief as a social practice and aims to improve ‘grief literacy’. The project currently includes an exhibition – it’s really wonderful.
Pic above is Heather Hesterman’s Florameter, a circular arrangement of 200 hyacinth bulbs, forming a chromatic spectrum that blooms over time. The living colour-wheel reimagines a cyanometer, and invites people to ‘calibrate their emotional responses to climatic uncertainty and collective grief’. Hesterman chose hyacinths in reference to the mythological relationship between Apollo and Hyacinthus, one of the earliest representations of queer love in Western mythology. I need to visit again when the hyacinths are blooming.
Below is Ween Ween (Mourning Bag), made of possum skin, by Vicki Couzens and also by Hesterman, Co-spire, a suspended glass flask representing the fragility of eco-systems
02. Another brilliant night at the Ramona Book Group (this time we read The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey, which was sooooo good).
03. …and at Fairfield Primary School’s Art4All event (obsessed with Indigo O’Rourke’s clouds in ceramic frames – probably lucky for my budget that they had all sold in the first hour of opening).
04. Cooking: Marry Me Chicken. Weird name, delicious dish.
05. Two Now or Never events (in conjunction with The Wheeler Centre) –
- How to Live Forever – Dr. Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston discussed his book, The Future Loves You, which is about future possibilities in the world of neuro-science and brain preservation. My mind was going in a million directions – the ethical implications and existential challenges of what was proposed was wild – for example, the evolving ‘definition’ of what constitutes death. Lots to think about.
- Mood Machine – author Liz Pelly discussed her book, Mood Machine, which focuses on the rise of music streaming platforms such as Spotify, and the ‘costs of the perfect playlist’. The bottom line – I’m doing a great community service when I go to pubs to see gigs 😉
06. Watching: The Flatshare (Paramount) – fun! And Fit for TV (Netflix) – oh my god… but hardly surprising.
07. Three (online) events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival –
- Suzanne O’Sullivan – so much of what O’Sullivan said in relation to her book, The Age of Diagnosis, had me riveted. I took squillions of notes.
- Ian McEwan – discussed his forthcoming novel, What We Can Know. I had never heard McEwan speak – enjoyed his dry humour.
- Chloe Dalton – discussed her memoir, Raising Hare. I had hoped to read this before the talk but didn’t get to it. It did not matter. Dalton’s story is enchanting and it will be first on my reading list when Short Story September is finished.
08. Listening: Teen Jesus (Mother) and The Buoys (Bitch).
09. Laughing, laughing, laughing at all of the social media posts about the engagement.
