Archive for September 2020
Father’s Day: A remembrance in an art project
Father’s Day 2020 – Thinking of our Dads
In 2010 artist, and then gallerist, Julie Barratt put out a call for artworks that asked artists to respond about their Fathers and their passing.
The request from Julie Barratt is as follows:
This project was borne out of the recent sudden death of my father, a handkerchief, some emotive words written by a sibling on his death and the traumatic aftermath of a death processed according to particular societal and cultural mores. Interested artists and Individuals are invited to create an artwork on a handkerchief (any handkerchief not necessarily a man’s) based around death/grief/bereavement.
We reflected on our connection with our Fathers and created artworks using the cyanotype process.
Doug’s Hankie
The WHITE KNIGHT – for Merv by Doug Spowart
MERV: The White Knight
My father was an electrician for around sixty years. He always wore King Gee white overalls—even when we went on holidays.
Ever ready to help someone in need he would dash off at a moment’s notice—even when the family organised an outing on the weekend we would always fit in another job along the way.
Over the years he helped many an electrically troubled soul so we, his family, dubbed him the nickname – “The white knight”.
Victoria’s Hankie
Dad’ll do it – for Reg by Victoria Cooper
Dad’ll do it
I remember that he always tied knots in his hankie to keep it in place on his head and to soak up the sweat when he was working on things around the home. He had lived in this home (in the photo) for most of his life except for the time he was in Papua New Guinea for WW2 and shorter periods of time in other places. Over the years he adapted and renovated this home to suit the changing needs of the family.
.
.
Barratt Gallery Invite
.
The exhibition was shown at Barratt Gallery at Alstonville and Napier Gallery Melbourne
.
A post about the exhibition can be found HERE
.
.
.
.
.
.
A Poem for Dad on Father’s Day – Victoria Cooper
Reg Cooper’s WW2 PNG Butterfly collection*
.
A Poem on Fathers Day – Victoria Cooper 2020
Remembering small shared moments of joy for the natural world.
Many of which no longer exist but for a museum of memories.
With gratitude to my father
Pneumas
.
Flashes of colour
Flutter across the wall
The souls of the warriors
Fly over
The sublime terrain
While pinned
To a never ending present
.
Years pass
This man
Tends a distant garden
Preparing a fertile space
In anticipation for the end of dormancy
.
And so the decades
They fly
This man and a small child
Tend the garden
With humility in everyday work
Merging into a gentle rhythm
No expectations
Just joy in the flowers
That simply grow
.
But the Butterflies
Remain
Souls Hovering
Over that memory
What do they know
About Time…..
.
Eventually
The child alone
Tends the garden
Now a field
Rich with Dreams
Of Flowers
And Forests
.
All this …
For The Butterflies
To breathe
.
Vicky and her Dad Reg …circa 1960s
*Pneuma (πνεῦμα) is an ancient Greek word for “breath“, and in a religious context for “spirit” or “soul“.[1]
.
Reg’s Butterfly collection
Reg Cooper served in the Royal Australian Air Force in Papua New Guinea in World War II. During this time he made this work by collecting butterflies and placing them over a map of PNG and framing. It is entitled “Nadzab 1944” – where he was stationed.
.
.
.
.
.
This Blogpost is copyright: Text – Victoria Cooper ©2020, Nadzab 1944 © Reg Cooper, Portrait of Victoria & Reginald Cooper – Helen Cooper ©circa1960
Any RSS reposting from this Blog without permission represents a breach of Copyright.
.
.
.
.
.
wotwedid 