You Are Here, This Is Happening

Radiohead are one of my favourite bands. When I found out that the lyrics ‘I’m not here, this isn’t happening’ were actually words of advice that were given to Thom Yorke by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. - the song got so much cooler…

Anyway, I thought I would reverse those words around and write ‘I’m here, this is happening’ over and over and over again. I did this because the song those lyrics are from - ‘How To Disappear Completely’ - is very comforting for me to listen to, like a lot of Radioheads songs. I see it as a kind of mantra, repeating a phrase over and over and over again and achieving comfort from it.

Since the role of ‘Protection’ (the theme of the project) plays a part in lying for positive reasons (the focus of my work) I figured that being honest with yourself is a key factor.

When we find ourselves in difficult situations, one technique we consider helpful is to deny the truth, the discomfort and the pain by convincing ourselves everything will be okay. In a sense, we are lying to ourselves, we recognise the status quo, admit discontent then deceive ourselves temporarily (sometimes longer).

I recognise this behaviour in myself, I’ve been doing it for years. How else would we make it through the day?

So, the point I’m making is that I wanted to keep it positive. This work is a development piece and I wanted it to deal with honesty, and being honest with yourself.

Sometimes we need to face up to reality and say..

I AM HERE AND THIS IS HAPPENING

Look it right in the face and get on with it.

(forgive me Mr. Yorke, Mr. Stipe)

Oh and the handwritten text in the piece was completed using my left hand. This way I felt less precious about how it turned out.