In the eighties when I was designing databases, I contemplated a time when there might be an all encompassing database ‘out there’, when it might be possible to search for disparate entities, and make a connection. Today it is so and the norm.
Reading Blue Mythologies by Carol Mavor I encounter Helen Chadwick, familiar and yet not. In my head there is a connection with John Skinner, which google confirms. Wiki states her foundation year was at Croydon, my husband’s art college. He confirms he was there at the same time, but didn’t know her.
I look at the work of Chadwick and can see her connections. I look at the work of Annabel Dover, also featured in the book, I see the simple beauty of her cyanotypes, the steeped history, and can see her connections.
Iris’ Stocking (c)2011 Annabel Dover https://thismeofmine.wordpress.com/artworks/iris-stocking-by-annabel-dover/
As an analyst and systems designer I was trained to see connections. Why am I not seeing them when it really matters to me?
I revisit John Skinner’s https://vimeo.com/32678467 Bodying Forth les blocages June 2011. He was specifically referring to blockages in the painting process, desire, anger, frustration, and through movement, selecting a pathway and through use of the materials, a sensitivity to the paint. But equally, could it be a solution to blockages in making personal connections? Select a pathway through the thoughts and emotions to develop meaningful and unique insights?