Like most other people I suppose that I will have spent a good part forth day wondering how on earth we managed to get ourselves into the current crisis, and even more so asking myself how we might get ourselves out of it. A good part of the day, however, has been spent in preparation for my forthcoming exhibition at the South Square Centre. The theme of this will be the numerous images I have produced over the years of Almscliff Crag. When I committed myself to this project I had no idea how appropriate it would be to our current situation.
The title I’ve given to the show is deliberately ambiguous. I’ve called it, “Almscliff Crag: an enduring obsession”. A part of the interest of the occasion lies in the reference to my own obsessive engagement with this particular lump of rock.* There is a deliberate subtext within the title, however, and that is the possible emphasis on “endurance”. This is a value of primary importance, in my view. In diverse aspects of life we are required to endure. I believe that one aspect of the value of Almscliff to me is its suitability as a symbol of endurance. This strain in my work can be looked at as a celebration of it.
I fear that my choice of a theme for my show might turn out to be prescient, in its attention to what will be required of us in the coming weeks.
*If you have no idea what Almscliff Crag looks like, and why I might find it at all interesting, there are several images of it scattered through the “galleries” elsewhere in this website.