A Precious Present

For Christmas the Hopper Juniors and Minis gave me a leather bound journal.  It came beautifully wrapped in a box and brown paper both of which will get a second use!

   

The leather is soft and highly strokeable.  Inside it's a loose leaf binder with beautiful cream lined paper.   I've removed a fair chunk of the paper and put it in an envelope to keep safe for later!

The issue was what to use it for.  I wondered whether to keep it until September 2026 and use it to record my life when I'm the Artist in Residence in Hurstville.  However it seemed a bit ungrateful to not use it for another 20 months.  And there's always that problem of putting something in a safe place.

And then not being able to remember where the safe place is!

And then it came to me.  Why not start now by using it to record any ideas I have for the residency between now and then.  Make the journal the safe place!

I started by making some dividers out of Kraft card.

I wrote out the poems I've written so far on the theme  of Captivity, Freedom and Identity.

I printed out my application for the Residency and put it at the front of the journal.

I've been using Claude.ai to research my theme.  I am amazed by this AI site.  I feel I got about 18 months worth of research if I'd done it in the library in less than 10 minutes.

I have pages and pages of notes on:

• words related to the themes of captivity, freedom and identity
• a deeper look at how the themes interrelate
• exploring the spiritual dimensions of captivity, freedom and identity
• exploring the psychological dynamics of the the three themes
• exploring the historical connections between them
• exploring the historical intersections
• exploring depression through the lenses of captivity, freedom and identity
• exploring the themes through Christianity and the practical applications

Then I tried captivity, freedom and identity in textiles.  It came up with

• the historical contexts
• symbolic representations
• contemporary artists
• cultural significance and resistance
• Underground railway quilt theories

I had seen a large installation by Chiharu Shota when we visited Adelaide in 2018.

And lastly I tried convict transportation to Australia and textiles which produced:

• convict skills and labour
• symbolic items
• resistance and identity
• legacy
• the Parramatta Female Factory

We have visited Parramatta three or four times and didn't know about this factory.  On my list to visit in 2026.

There's pages and pages of it.  Each of the sentences above has lists of things underneath so rather than write it out I've printed it out and put it in the journal.

I need a lie down now!

I'm really pleased with how far I have got with the journal.  It will be a repository for ideas, lists of things to take with me, and any more research that I do over the next year and a half.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice