[-empyre-] summ(er)ing up

[Helen Varley Jamieson <helen@creative-catalyst.com>]

i've been trying to shape some intelligent summing-up comments but 
the fact is that summer is what's up in wellington & i just want to 
go outside & lie in the sun ...

& it's difficult to sum up a 'discussion' which has been a series of 
divergent views & opinions, peering into some corners of aotearoa/nz, 
shying away from others, some false starts & stops & back-ups & 
moments of brilliance & moments of irritation & random musings & 
interesting links ... maybe the whole is not so different from the 
reality of being an artist in/from nz/aotearoa.

when thinking about place & home & distance, i keep coming back to 
the simple fact of how geographically isolated new zealand is. the 
internet allows us to bridge that distance - but close the connection 
& the distance is back again. i've met many people in the northern 
hemisphere who were astonished to learn that it's at least a 3 hour 
flight to get *anywhere* from nz. think london to istanbul, or paris 
to moscow - that's how close we are to australia; it's the tasman sea 
not the english channel. if you're in europe & someone at home gets 
sick or dies, you feel like you're on mars. anyone who's endured the 
whole journey in one go (involving 2-3 flights & up to 40 hours in 
travel-limbo) then spent 3 days falling asleep at inconvenient times 
& unable to concentrate while you wait for your soul to arrive, knows 
that distance.

whether it's the whiff of the moss or the sight of the harbour cone, 
the first (em)bracing gust of wind or the fine white sand between 
your toes, we all recognise the emotional/sensory umbilical cord that 
ties us to the land of our birth - and to other significant places (i 
also feel it when the old JAT bus rolls me into the dusty streets of 
belgrade). we're all from *somewhere* & that fact can be irrelevant 
even as it permeates everything.

what does all this have to do with art? everything & nothing, imho 
... it's been a pleasure to have contributed, albeit sporadically, to 
aotearoa month on empyre & i hope you've found some small insight(s) 
into this corner of the globe amongst it all.

ka kite ano,
h : )
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helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen@creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
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