Dee Dee

I have just realised after some serious sorting that Dee Dee, my Grandad was without evening knowing it, a huge inspiration to me. I have just found a cardboard tube from 5th January 2006 which I have kept. It has been with me throughout at least 4 house moves.

Written on an orange piece of paper it says:

‘Rebecca,

Hope that you can make use of some of these. They seem too good to put out in the re-cycling bin!!!

Lots of love from Dee Dee and Grandma’

That has been my ethos to this day. I have recently been collecting cardboard tubes without a lot of reason, apart from I like them. When I found the first edition again, I was so happy and it all seemed to make more sense.

I used to love receiving packages or letters from Dee Dee as they were so meticulously created. There would be no room for error; always return to sender information. He also had millions of screws, nails and the like in his garage and kept them all in jars which were labelled. Somehow he had made something not initially interesting to me, fascinating by the order and sheer variety. By categorising and collecting different types, it somehow made them seem worth more like they were precious.

Filled in

I go past this wall everyday on the way to and from work. I think it’s beautiful. I wonder why it has been filled in and what it’s function is now.

An old friend

I walked into Sherwood this afternoon and thought I would take a little detour to see if an old friend was there. The blue office chair was still there, in the snow, wedged between some bins and a row of gravestones. It is trapped in by a wall and a locked gate. I had to tip toe to take this photo.

Resolutions

Happy New Year!

There are a few things that I would like to achieve this year. I’m not a huge celebrator of New Year, however I always use it as a good opportunity to re-assess.

I think the two things that I really want to do is take at least a photo a day and write down at least a conversation a day. Here are my photographs:

My first conversation of the New Year was at 12.01am to a chap who thought it was a wise idea to shake up two bottles of beer and spray it on everyone in celebration. This didn’t go down particularly well, so my friend poured the remains of her gin and tonic over his head. My conversation with him went like this:

‘I don’t know why she did that.’

I explained that he had just sprayed everyone with beer.

‘I didn’t do it on purpose.’

I explained that that was not the truth and he had shaken them up and released the contents.

He seemed to accept this and later walked over and apologised.

[While all this was going on, the beer that hadn’t landed with immediate affect over us, was now dripping down on us from the ceiling.]

Cats at Christmas

Today I have been mostly using a digital SLR to document Christmas day. My favourite photo’s are these portraits of my parents cats, Ella and Rosa. They both look like they are waiting for the food to be served.

The above photo is quite dark but I like the fact that it looks quite dramatic, considering the subject matter is so light hearted. I have been using a normal digital camera for so long, it was amazing to have a bit more control and being able to experiement.

Nottingham Contemporary – Generous tea portions

Went to Nottingham Contemporary last weekend and the art was really great, especially enjoyed Frances Stark’s work. The tea was also superb and everlasting. I ordered a pot of Earl Greg for approx £2 and it lasted for 3 whole cups!

I thought the cafe bar had a good feel and design. You can’t go wrong with an oversized tea cup and a disproportionate cigarette. On the other side of the room there was a huge ruler too!

Frances Stark – My favourite pieces:

And also another one at the same time, not, 2003 (Trees and birds)

In box, 2004 (Paper in a pile out of a cardboard box)

I went through my bin yet again, 2008 (Hand holding paper on red background)

A strangers validation

I was taking a photograph of some discarded furniture in the dark and a stranger walked past and said ‘It takes a lovely photo, doesn’t it?’. This meant a huge amount to me and felt like it gave the work an additional substance. She made me feel like I made sense, like it was a good idea.