Spring has Sprung
Posted by admin | Filed under 'one wild life', Photography
Spring has sprung. I saw the first daffodils peeping up their regal yellow crowns the other day, and the days are feeling lighter and brighter.
It was a long winter, and for those of you who follow my blog you may have thought I had gone into hibernation. To an extent I had, with duvet nights and books to curl into to, but I’d also had some busy days, working again with Suas, this time with a communications had on. I took lots of photos, and made, what I think and hope, are some funky little short films to tell the story of the organisation, which you can view here. It was fun learning new editing and film skills, and I’m happy to have been able to add some tools to my box of tricks. (Thanks must go to Sam Whelan Curtain who became my editing partner in crime)
My camera took me on some more interesting days out too, with portrait sessions, and the occassional wander- just to see how the light and day were working off each other in their particular ways.
One Wild Life continues to pop its own head up, bringing me into schools, libraries, universities and back on the national airwaves to tell the story of the book, all of which enables me to met a wide group of people interested in social change, which warms even a cold heart. (One Wild Life remains on sale in bookshops around the country, on collinspress website and on Amazon). I’m still in touch with lots of the people who were interviewed in the book, and it is exciting to be able to continue to follow their stories, through the ups and the downs, the swings and the turns.
It has been a challenging time for many people and organisations over the last year. Budgets have gone into topspin, the ‘climate’ has congealed into something altogether murky, confidence in the way forward has stumbled at crossroads, and signposts seem to have been moved. Questioning seems to be happening at many levels- government, civil society, school boards, local partnerships. And deeper still, into the mind and hearts of people, questioning their values, their roles, their futures. The questioning is not easy, but I do think it is necessary.
On a personal level it has been about making peace with both my demons and my dreams. There had been doubts, there have been setbacks, and all the while I’ve been coaxing myself into letting go of the things which curtail, the things which anchor us to places in the past. And to do all of that it requires us to hold mirrors to ourselves, to ask ourselves honestly, and truthfully what it is that we really want to do, to create. With honesty comes realness, and with realness come authenticity. It’s no easy mandate, but to be this game for the long haul, to honestly and truthfully try to make a lasting difference, authenticity of action is essential.
I was a little early for an appointment yesterday, so darted into a bookshop to whirl away some minutes. I was drawn to the children’s section (as I frequently am!), and picked up Oliver Jeffers beautiful, colourful little tome, ‘The Heart and the Bottle’ It is simple. It is lovely. And it’s simple, lovely message stuck a chord. It is about a little girl, full of the curiosities of the world, who takes her heart out and places it in a glass bottle around her neck only to find that the world no longer seems so lovely or so bright. And the message, for me at least, was about maintaining our vital connection to the heart so we can see the richness and wonder that the world is.
Spring feels like a natural time to reconnect with wonder, and for plotting and scheming new ideas. My feet seem to be perpetually itchy, so I’m hoping they’ll get a chance to bring my brain and camera off on some adventures this year.
By the way, for those of you in the Development sector, medical sector or generally interested in how the international aid community words, I read a whopper of a book over the last few weeks, ‘The Wisdom of Whores’, by the feisty and eloquent Elizabeth Pisiani, which got me thinking about the who business of development in new and necessary ways. Highly Recommended!
And here are some of my favourite photos from the last few months, taken mainly on a whistle stop tour of India and Kenya. I’ll add more with time too.
March 5th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Great to see you back blogging! Pisani’s big is a hoot! I’m working on a review of it for my blog - hope to have it up early next week.