A Lightning Stroke from My Stove to My Heart

Ten or so years ago I sat at my dinner table with a days hard work half completed. Eyes blankly fixated upon the stove to my right caught in the black abyss of the still hot cast iron pan filled with the remains of dinner all brown and clumped in the soon to be coagulated aromatic oils of my desire. I chewed like an animal grazing. My mind as simple as the innocent idiot of so many stories. The sound of my cat Butter pawing over my plate just behind the book I had been studying drove my gaze to protect my meal. In the fields of my restful mind the electric illumination cast bright light of recognition over the the not so distant horizon, flash burning the circuit of the imagined upon my eyes. Golden and hearty with the presence of security only found in the memories of a much needed meal prepared by your mother radiated out in the ethereal disconnection of the world, bring dawning to my days worry of the question at hand. One deep inhale and the smell that had blotted out all recognition became the obvious as to what I was to do in the coming days.

I would spend hours in the coming days passing over books with my finger tips like a man with a dozing stick looking for water before I found what would soon be the first book to be baptised in the oil and fried into a new life. I now relish the expression and absurd dawning on the faces I see as I take book into hand and immerse it into the ingredients for frying a book, it is the same look I received from my mother as she finally understood that I was not using a metaphor but, really was going to put a book into the pot of boiling oil. In this way for every person I have made a book for as they look at me I see the face of my mother for a moment behind the eyes which still cannot believe we are doing what we are doing together.

As to how I came upon this idea it is as told, as to why the conscience mind has placed many meanings over the years but, it boils out to the transformation that takes place and topically the transformation is no one person as this is and will always be a collaborative project and experience.

If you have participated in the project I would love to hear from you as you can tell the story you have lived in the pages now fused into a new existence. If you have not taken part I hope you do, as we venture into the world to present this performance in its ongoing collaborative project.

We are looking forward to creating the artist book to complete a circle built into this project which is one part performance, one part artifact created together and one part artist book. This is only one of what will be many more projects to come meant to collectively bring the lightning stroke of reexamination into our lives as we question what has been for a better world and society.

Like the smell that emanates from the tables used during the performance the imagined concept seeps into the greater conciseness of our brief time and like the pebble thrown into water the ripples change history. We have begun to see the ripples caused by our absurd pebble thrown at the world and hope you will cast more with us in time to come.

DFB!