Blue....

[msfledermaus]

...a posted thread I was just reading made me think strongly of an installation I was fond of that was in Rhymes-With-Stalker years ago...Derek Jarman's "Blue". It was a room painted in black, like a movie theatre, with a screen showing nothing but blue light..and a soundtrack of Derek's losing struggle with Aids, his philosophical questions in the face of it, and the visions in his mind as the illness robbed him of sight.

I loved that installation so much. I was heartbroken when it was taken down. Mr. Jarman had taught me so much about bravery in the face of extinction, of the power of the creative imagination, of healing and rage and sorrow. And wisdom. Over the years the whispering and shouting and music of the installaton followed me through every day I worked in the galleries. It helped me heal a badly broken heart, and taught me to see wonders on closed eyelids.

It's an uncomfortable feeling to miss someone you never met.


Ms Eff. I've got the Cd, it's not quite the same unless you close your eyes tight and think of a blue square in front of you...

Comments

[banana.livejournal.com]

He was an interesting bloke. He got a film certificated for cinema release in the UK with an erect penis, probably the only one ever. It was at the lower edge of the frame, and he arranged a screening for the certification people where the screen wasn't quite big enough, so they didn't see it. 8~)

When he was dying, he made a tv program about his life and his house by the sea. It was on the Norfolk coast on a beach made of fist-sized stones. The sea was always throwing up more shingle, but he managed to keep a garden growing, with flotsam decoration.

Re:

[msfledermaus.livejournal.com]

I saw the book he made about his house by the sea..the pictures were so lovely, and his humor so sharp it would cut you.

It's hard to see his films here in America unless you scan the arthouses religiously.
I've never seen his directing, just his installations work and a few of his books. But it definitely has a sledgehammer effect on people.

Ms Eff, always amazed by the tenacity of a man growing radioactive veggies by a strong cold sea...and they were beautiful, too:)