Art - What's it For - 2

Art - "The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power".

Given that humans have found art to be important to their lives since early man inhabited the earth - it does seem to be fairly crucial to our well being. The earliest undisputed African rock art dates back about 10,000 years. The Venus of Schelklingen is an Upper Paleolithic figure made of  mammoth ivory. It is dated to between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago.

 

For very young children, between 15 months & 5 years, there are 4 stages of writing & drawing - Random Scribbling, Controlled Scribbling, Lines & Patterns & finally Pictures of Objects & People. Once the child purposefully draws images they have mastered symbolic thinking. If children are given a wide variety of materials & media to experiment with & explore they need no instruction at all. Creativity means having the power to express yourself in your own way. Too often though, adults cannot resist the urge to direct & teach.

 

Yet, despite the obvious importance of art to human development, according to a recent survey:-

http://www.nsead.org/downloads/survey.pdf  

"At least a third and up to 44% of teacher responses over all key stages indicate that time allocated for art and design had decreased in the last five years". How sad is that - SAT's win - Creativity loses.

A variety of art therapies have been used successfully for both physical & mental illness for many years. Art & healing have long been known to work together. The idea that creative expression can make a powerful contribution to the healing process has been embraced in many different cultures. Art helps people express experiences that are too difficult to put into words. The following study looks at this in more detail.

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/

So - In answer to my own question. There is a lot of point to the Arts. We ignore that & we become less rounded individuals. It doesn't matter what I like or what you like. It just matters that we continue to find time for Art & value it.

 

 

Art - What's it for?

I went to Central St Martins on Thursday to see the final degree show One. It was a challenge because it was the 3D / Installations group I was there to see. I freely admit that Modern Art in general & Installations in particular quite often perplex me. Fortunately this one, pictured, wasn't beyond my comprehension.

 

The thing is what is the point of art? What should the viewer expect to feel or understand? The answer is very complex. It is so subjective, depending a lot on the viewers ability to really look & interrogate the piece. It is a dialogue between the artist & the viewer that is all about communication. The artist's part is to be able to depict something or say something through whatever medium they chose. Both halves of the equation have to be prepared to put some effort in. 

The viewer needs visual intelligence. The artist needs a level of skill. 

That's where I get lost in modern art generally. I don't think it's enough to say that the creativity & point of the art is in the original idea. By definition, yes, art relies on creativity. (Sadly so much is derivative or plagiarist.) There has to be some skill too. So I really don't understand a work like Tracy Emins bed. She explains it thus, " I could see; this absolute mess and decay of my life, and then I saw the bed out of that context of this tiny, tiny, bedroom". The piece has meaning for Tracy Emin. To me it feels like the "Emperors new Clothes". No one is prepared to ask why? Similarly Carl Andre's "Equivalent VIII" or  more commonly "Bricks"

So I look at the skill & creativity of Leonardo da Vinci, of Monet, or Seurat. I also like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close.....There are so many two dimensional works I love. 

However, something like Mark Rothko's "Untitled - Black on Grey" leaves me cold. Three dimensional work seems to be even more of a problem. While Jeff Koons work makes me smile, modern installations often just baffle me. If there is a message it just isn't clear enough for me to grasp.

Which brings me round full circle. If you have to have it explained to you is that your fault or the artists? If most people don't understand it, if it doesn't give them pleasure, or make them think, what is the point of it?

Or is it me?

Aches & Pains

 

Currently my back, neck & left arm are hurting constantly. So long as I'm not doing anything it's a dull nagging pain. If I exert myself, like walking to the local shops, it becomes much worse. The left arm is more or less useless. I had an accident in the street 14 months ago & fell heavily on my arm. It wasn't broken, but there is tendon / ligament damage which medics don't seem to have been able to fix. It's difficult to change gear, brush my hair, shower, get dressed & undressed....I take 11 pills a day. I've even had Morphine & Amitryptilene on prescription. When I try to come off so many drugs the pain is even worse.

I'm not alone. According to a Systematic Review / Meta Analysis in 2016 almost half of the adult population, 43.5%, in the UK is living with chronic pain - 28,000,000 people. 14.3% in younger adults (18 to 25 years old), to 62% for those over 75 years of age. 

https://www.nhs.uk/news/medical-practice/almost-half-of-all-uk-adults-may-be-living-with-chronic-pain/#what-were-the-basic-results

My point is, that you would think, that in view of this widespread problem, the NHS would 

a) have a better understanding of how pain works & 

b) Be doing something about alleviating all of this pain.

   

Pain causes fatigue. Pain stops you from sleeping. Unsurprisingly constant pain can cause depression. The cost of chronic pain in both time & money to the NHS is huge. According to 2011 figures Painkillers cost the NHS £440,000,000 per annum. Goodness knows what it is now.

https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news/painkillers-cost-nhs-442m-with-north-of-england-spend-greatest-analysis-reveals/11088830.article

Although I've tried, & paid for, lots of alternative therapies, (I keep an open mind). I've also tried CBT, Hypnotherapy, Mindfulness, Relaxation, Meditation & Distraction Technique, with varying degrees of success. I've taken suppliments as well as medication. I've had steroid injections in my hips, (Brilliant, worked straight away). I've been referred to a Pain Clinic. I've done varying exercise regimes including Circuit training, Aerobics, Pilates, Chi Gong, Yoga... - The only thing that works & I can do now is swimming.

So, I'll be watching BBC 1 "The Doctor who Gave up Drugs" at 9pm tonight. I don't think there are any easy answers to chronic pain. You have to try everything & find what works for you. If you are lucky there will be something.

This is a silent epidemic. I look completely normal. But I'm going to stop now because my back is killing me from sitting at the computer.

Love & Hate - A Wedding & A Genocide

Yesterday I watched the main bit of the royal wedding of Harry & Megan at lunchtime. In the evening I watched the Dispatches documentary "Myanmars Killing Fields". You probably couldn't have two more extreme examples of love & hate. Such polar opposites do make one wonder whether it is true that "love conquers all".

The first core Precept of Buddhism is that "You should not kill or harm".  Buddhists should live their lives trying to achieve an "absence of violence". 91% of people in Myanmar are Buddhists. How can they possibly be so filled with hate that they will commit human rights atrocities? It is simple - they cannot be Buddhists. According to Time magazine in March 2018 - 671,000 Rohingyas have fled from the extreme violence. The numbers rise hourly. Yanghee Lee, the special Raporteur on human rights & UN investigators think that the number of dead "may turn out to be extremely high". It is thought that more than 43,700 parents are missing. I can't find any statistics for the number of babies & children who have been killed.

http://time.com/5187292/rohingya-crisis-missing-parents-refugees-bangladesh/
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/12/asia/myanmar-rohingya-un-violence-genocide-intl/index.html

 

A woman walks among debris after fire destroyed shelters at a camp for internally displaced Rohingya Muslims in the western Rakhine State near Sittwe. (REUTERS Photo)  

The royal wedding was the expensive specatacle you would imagine - with a twist, which I enjoyed watching.  I'm as sure as you can be that Harry & Meghan love eachother. I hope they will be happy & use their privileged position to help the many charities they support. In this world of press & media coverage of celebrities, which is what they are, they could be an effective "power couple". I'm afraid I see Royalty as a bit of a soap opera - nice clothes & entertaining but not as effective as they could be.

It is difficult to see Love as being in the ascendency today. There is so much that is wrong in our world. It is naive to imagine that this wedding changes anything much. In order to be effective against hate we need to have individuals working together with love to call out & challenge the things that are so wrong in our world. Things which are often totally man made. 

The polar opposite of these two events highlights how unequal, unfair, & disfunctional our world is. How do we fix this? A romanticised "love conquers all" & a big wedding simply isn't enough.

 

Wild flowers are not Weeds

 

                                       Bluebells, Red Campion, Cow Parsley and Stitchwort.

I have always thought that people have the wrong attitude to grass verges. Councils are very quick to mow - presumably because of pressure from the public who think the verges look messy.

To my mind wild Cow Parsley en masse looks lovely - a delicate tracery of creamy white. Add Campion & wild Geranium & I'd be happy to have the effect in my garden. Even dandilions have their place. All provided free for our delight & a habitat providing food for birds & bees & thousands of creatures. Wild flowers, insects & birds have been driven out of our farmland by agri-business. If we mow too soon the natural corridors are destroyed too.

We are in danger of being control freaks. We want to control & manage the natural world to an extent that we are causing species to become endangered & disappear. Wild isn't bad. Wild is natural. Wild is necessary.

We have paved over our front gardens & put patios & decks in our back gardens. We are slaves to low maintenance because we are time poor. There is gravel everywhere. Front gardens worth the name are declining at a fast pace.

Let's allow nature to be natural - at least on our verges.

http://plantlife.love-wildflowers.org.uk/roadvergecampaign

The Use of Language - Or Lack of it.

I know I'm a "grumpy old woman" - In fact I'm actually quite happy with that descriptor if it means that I'm irritated, annoyed or intolerant of poor behaviour of all sorts.

The thing that is annoying me at the moment is the sloppy language which is common not only on the streets, but on Radio 4 for goodness sake. Why on earth has the use of the words "so, like & wow" become so common? Then there is the common use of non words like "er".

Why are supposedly reasonably intelligent responders to interviewers incapable of just answering in proper sentences? Is it because they don't actually know their subject? Is it because they are playing for an extra second ot two of time to answer? The words are " fillers" or "verbal tics" & are completely unnecessary. They are cliched & repetetive. The sloppy habit of the sloppy speaker.

I imagine that the habit started in America. Now it has graduated through the young, who don't know better, to adults who should. These "verbal tics" pepper whole sentences. Once you become aware of it, it becomes maddeningly annoying.

I don't know how scripted interviewers are, but people like Mariella Frostrup & Eddie Mair show how it should be done. Clear, concise, no extraneous word padding.

If only  there were an appropriate fine or punishment that could end this illness pervading our beautiful language. Apparently there is such a thing as a "Speech Pathologist" who could cure you. 

Could we perhaps bring back the ducking stool for the excessive & unnecessary use of filler words? It would be more entertaining, as well as being a possible cure.

 

Alfie - What's it all about? - The Right to Life?

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/27/17286168/alfie-evans-toddler-uk-explained

I am sad that this little boy has died. I cannot imagine how his parents & the medics who have looked after him must feel. It is a gut wrenching story for everyone concerned. No one wants a child to be ill & die. I believe that everyone involved in this did what they thought was right at the time.

But - & it is a big but - everyone can get ill, sometimes terminally. We are all on a journey to death, sometimes it is shorter than we wish & sometimes it is painful.

I think there is a danger that we are expecting medics to be miracle workers, not human beings. I also think that some people think that the "right to life" over rides all other considerations.

I speak from experience. My husband fell from a roof onto concrete & was physically injured & in a coma. I would have given anything for him to wake up. But to what? He would, in all probability be permanently seriously mentally & physically disabled. I knew he wouldn't want that & I didn't want that for him. We were going to switch off the machines 12 days after the accident, but he died naturally.

Death is a natural part of life. Just because we are able to prolong life when there is no quality of life or sentient being doesn't mean we should. We need to have a realistic discussion about what is an acceptable care pathway for this sort of situation. And, yes, financial cost does come into the equation. I have no idea how much the care of Alfie & others like him costs now, but in the EU it varied between 1168 euros & 2025 euros a day in a study published in 2012. This represents a high proportion of the total cost of running a hospital.

Resources are limited. Staff are limited. Money is limited. The NHS cannot do everything. What is a life worth? Well, someone has to answer that question. But for every individual like Alfie there will be many other individuals who either aren't treated or have to wait. The level of overspend in UK hospital trusts is mind boggling.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/nhs-trusts-england-overspend-3bn-higher-reported-study-claims

Emotions run high in cases like this - understandibly. But when demonstrations stop patients & staff getting into a hospital there is something wrong. When medics are verbally abused on Social Media & face to face, there is something wrong. When the story dominates the press & media with appealing pictures of a sick little boy to deliberately whip up public sentiment & clamour, there is something very wrong.

We need a bit of sanity & realism. What can & should the NHS & Medics do or not do? At what point do we say we cannot do any more based on an informed appraisal of the quality of that life? The conversation needs to be had in a calm & unemotional way - Soon.