“Fairy tales challenge the reader to imagine magical worlds different from our own. We are reminded by the fairy tale of the thing we never should have forgotten — that our world might have been different and is magical the way it is: unexplainable, unpredictable, wild, and surprising. With our imaginations awakened, we can see with new eyes our own world filled with wonder once again.”[1]

Travis Prinzi from G.K. Chesterton on Fairy Tales

There once was a girl, some said she was blue, some said pink, but the sparrow outside her window knew. She was iridescent.

The sparrow had seen many yellows fatten to red and be swallowed whole by the worm-mother, but he loved it best when the worm-mother let loose the pearl. The pearl was always different; she was a crescent, a mysterious creature that changed shapes. There were many crescents, sweetsacs that fell and turned into whisperers, featherwash which appeared when the sky was heavy and sparkled when the yellow came out from behind the heavy, but his favourite was the pearl.  Sometimes the pearl hid and would not come out, sometimes she laid bare her beautiful pearly skin and shone with exhilarating force, this made the iridescent girl come to her window and the sparrow would see her shimmering colour. The girl would breathe deep the scent of the pearl and she would leave gifts of her copper strands for the sparrow. The sparrow always repaid the girl’s kindness with gifts of his speckled feathers. Sometimes he would leave pebbles that looked like the pearl.

The sparrow knew the girl was pleased with his gifts because she would study them intently, then she would make another one appear by tracing their outline with a stick! The sparrow thought it a very clever thing to do.

This little fairy tale is for Annabel Dover, a fellow fairy tale lover. I interviewed her recently for This ‘Me’ of Mine:

Jane Boyer: On your website you describe yourself as constantly being “drawn to objects and the invisible stories that surround them; [t]hrough their subtle representation…exploring their power as intercessionary agents that allow socially acceptable emotional expression. The work presents itself as a complex mixture of scientific observation and tender girlish enthusiasm which often belies their history.”  That is a wonderful compendium of mystery, fact and fascination.  Do they share equal weight in your explorations?

Annabel Dover: I really enjoyed the show ‘Life or Theatre’ by Charlotte Salomans. It showed a very personal, fabulous fantasy representation of her life.

My upbringing was constructed from lies and my parents indulged in their own personal dramas. The truth was impossible to decipher and the objects that surrounded my sisters and I were often the only witnesses to ludicrous acts of fantasy and violence – the Freemason’s case with a bag of un-hewn rocks, a sign of dishonour; the naval coat with the buttons ripped off, indicators of an affair that my father had with a Naval officer; the college gown of my sisters’ father, an alcoholic professor; the love letters of his father, Canon for the BBC; the jewellery that represented both my mother’s and my grandmother’s love affairs. These and many other objects highlighted the traumas and the breaks in human relationships that made up the atmosphere of my upbringing. The stories told to me by my family unravelled with the discovery of these indiscreet objects.

The personal stories people tell are fascinating to me, they announce who they would like to be and often contrast with how others might perceive them to actually be.

Read more of our interview, Family Romances.

“If there is value which is of value, it must lie outside of all happening and being so. For all happening and being-so is accidental.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein
6.41, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus

This quote from Wittgenstein is a profound statement on the nature of occurrence and existence – ‘happening and being-so’. Whichever way we look at it, occurrence and existence is accidental. The beauty and simplicity of Wittgenstein’s statement sweeps away the clutter of chance and places value squarely in purpose. It suggests circumstance (context) is a force of chance.  This ‘Me’ of Mine asks if purpose can challenge the force of chance.

Wittgenstein’s rational view makes folly of the attempt to find meaning in happening and being-so, but he leaves the door wide open to search for meaning in value and purpose. Kate Murdoch does just this through her work.  She encourages her audiences to explore their purpose. Through her interactive exchanges, Kate presents situations which involve an active interchange between the public and her work, often with the public’s participation the greater force in the creation of art. Her audiences not only participate, they actually become part of the art through their active purpose. The generosity of this, both on Kate’s part and on the part of the audience, breaks down the barrier of the ‘art experience’ and presents an experience of art.

Read our interview, What Are You Prepared to Give in Exchange, for This ‘Me’ of Mine. Kate and I discuss value, emotion, memory and communication.

JB: …It could be said the value we associate with an object is in relation to the depth of emotion we experience in any given situation. Do you feel this to be true and what have you observed about this relationship through the interactive aspect of your work?

KM: …The emotional attachment we make to any given object can determine its worth in emotional terms as opposed to its monetary value. The very act of bartering adds an emotional reality to the process of exchange that currency somehow lacks…

This ‘Me’ of Mine is very proud to call Art Pie our Media Partner.

We are equally proud to call the four galleries below our Venue Partners. Click on a logo to find out more about the good work these organisations do.

Sarah Hervey has a note in her sketchbook, it reads, “Wittgenstein maintained every statement rested on unproven assumptions and illogical associations”.

With regard to language there are four problems outlined by Bertrand Russell in his 1922 introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus:[1]

First is a problem of what actually occurs in our minds when we intend to mean something.

Second is the relationship between thoughts, words and sentences and what they refer to.

Third is a problem of constructing sentences to convey truth rather than falsehood – in a logical sense rather than in a factual sense of true and false.

Fourth, what relation must a fact have to another in order to be capable of being a symbol for it.

According to Russell’s essay, the fourth problem is what concerned Wittgenstein and it is at the heart of Sarah’s note to herself, which is positioned in relation to this image in her journal:

“In the language of everyday life it very often happens that the same word signifies in two different ways – and therefore belongs to two different symbols – or that two words, which signify in different ways, are apparently applied in the same way in a proposition [a statement]…[t]hus there easily arise the most fundamental confusions.”[2]

Ludwig Wittgenstein

The problem of clear communication is further complicated by psychology, the first of Russell’s four problems with language, and identity, the second.  What does it mean to be vulnerable?  We all know what it feels like and so we feel we can describe and understand it.  But can we? David Minton a fellow exhibiting This ‘Me’ of Mine artist, asks Sarah if she thinks his male vulnerability is an attribute of feminine vulnerability, wondering “if the view of ‘masculine’ is dependent on the view of vulnerable as ‘feminine’?”  It’s a compelling question.

Jane Boyer: Much of the vulnerability you are interested in and you explore is based in gender issues and ageing.  Can you tell us what it is particularly about vulnerability, experienced through gender and age, which interests you?

Sarah Hervey: I think there has been a lot of research into why women live longer on the whole and have a resilience somehow, yet the way we are supposed to attract men is to be vulnerable, the weaker sex, so there’s all that dynamic which is interesting.  Because I have this idea about skin and how your history shows on your face, so if you’ve had a life where you’ve felt vulnerable it will begin to show.  As your body gets older you just appear more vulnerable because your skin gets thinner, your bones aren’t as strong, you find it more difficult to hold your head up straight and keep your back straight and so your body starts to cow.  The different way men and women deal with that interests me; how we feel about that is the internal part of skin, then the way society looks at you is the external part. I mean, the essence of being female or male is different and I feel it is important to struggle to understand more precisely the positions of men and women within these boundaries. My point of view is as a woman.  I can’t understand my own vulnerability and the vulnerability of women without understanding the vulnerability of men.

Read more of our interview, Without Any Voice.  If you are enjoying reading about the issues involved with This ‘Me’ of Mine, follow the blog by clicking the ‘follow’ button under the heading Follow blog via Email at the bottom of each page and engage with us by leaving a comment, follow us on twitter @thismeofmine or like our facebook page, facebook/ThisMeofMine.

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