{"id":1327,"date":"2021-05-30T13:52:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T12:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=1327"},"modified":"2022-01-09T09:31:14","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T09:31:14","slug":"_hung_out_to_dry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/june-2021\/_hung_out_to_dry\/","title":{"rendered":"_hung_out_to_dry"},"content":{"rendered":"

I and my fellow artist, Nimmi Naidoo, showed an installation in central Oxford for Oxfordshire Artweeks which we had created as a tribute to all the many kinds of keyworkers who have died during this pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jill Green at Bonn Square. Photo by Judie Waldmann<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The installation, _hung_out_to_dry, is (so far) a set of 54 photographs of people who just turned up for work because they didn\u2019t have a choice, being unable to do their jobs from home.<\/p>\n

They kept this country going, and many of them died \u2013 with the massive ripple effects this caused within families and communities. All of our statistics on the numbers of deaths in specific occupations were from the Office of National Statistics for England and Wales.<\/p>\n

We chalked the figures onto the pavement every day, sitting outside, and had wonderful conversations with folk who were passing by. One day, we read out this excerpt from a poem by Sheenagh Pugh:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Wher beth they, bifore us weren? <\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve no cause to love change,
\nthat\u2019s the truth of it. Surely something
\nis lost; surely a body is
\nnot just limbs, but their running lightness,
\nnot eyes only, but what lit them,
\nand where does that go, Empedocles,
\nwhat becomes of it?<\/p>\n

The ball passes<\/p>\n

from hand to hand, but it\u2019s colours
\nfade in the sun: one day perhaps,
\nit drops in the grass, lies half hidden,
\nit\u2019s purple weathered to grey.
\nand it may be a poem, so perfect<\/p>\n

it lives on the page or tongue
\nfor long ages of men,
\nbut it may be no more
\nthan a neighbour\u2019s good nature
\na workman\u2019s craft, a joker\u2019s quick wit,
\nand these are soon gone
\nas the last man dies
\nwho kept them in mind,
\nyet they\u00a0were<\/em>, as surely as cliff and leaf,
\nbut where is the sand, the coal
\nthat came of them?<\/p>\n

Is there a beach somewhere,
\nUnmapped, unvisited, whose sand
\nWas ground from the soft stone
\nOf all that has slipped from mind?
\nCould we run through our hands
\nThe grains of a girl\u2019s longing,
\nAn artist\u2019s gift, a paleolithic jest?<\/p>\n

Show me the sand, Empedocles,
\nShow me the sand<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Elisabeth & John Salisbury visiting Jill\u2019s Artweeks installation.
photo by Jill Green<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Back to June 2021 Newsletter Main Page<\/a><\/p>\n

Forty-Three<\/em> Newsletter \u2022 Number 506 \u2022 June 2021
\n<\/strong>Oxford Friends Meeting
\n43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW<\/p>\n

newsletter@oxfordquakers.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I and my fellow artist, Nimmi Naidoo, showed an installation in central Oxford for Oxfordshire Artweeks which we had created as a tribute to all the many kinds of keyworkers who have died during this pandemic. The installation, _hung_out_to_dry, is (so far) a set of 54 photographs of people who just turned up for work … Continue reading _hung_out_to_dry<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":1313,"menu_order":42,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1327","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1331,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1327\/revisions\/1331"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}