Tuesday 20 February 2007

to shrines

Oh well, I'm still sick. I honestly thought this cold would be gone by now, but it's not! At least I can have a little bit of time to catch up on things.
For my entire life, I have always made shrines. I used to make snail farms when I was about three, and name each snail Flora. Flora was my favourite name (and still is). I would tend to plastic containers filled with lettuce and snails avidly. The reason why my blog is called Oh Snail! is because I still hold those tiny creatures in very high regard. My dad is a religious hoarder, and I suppose I am as well. It was never difficult for me to find interesting articles to arrange as a child. I recently found a diary entry from 1997 (while sifting through material for my art folio). It describes my "speshal things" shelf; "a anshent pram weel, a bunnie with 3 legs, my spell books, shell collecshun, dry flower and som cudlefish."
I can absolutely remember every object on that special-things shelf, the "anshent pram wheel" was a wheel my dad found in the alleyway behind our house. It was encrusted with marbled rocks and all sorts of rusted trimmings. I thought it was the most amazing thing, and it was on my shelf for many years. Also, the bunny with three legs appears in the photograph below. I won it at a fete when I was six, (all four legs intact) and have kept it ever since.
So my shrines have stayed with me over the years and still I find absolute delight in arranging and presenting my special things.



I really like the idea that some things take time. And some things, once they are created are out of the control of the creator. Like Antonio Gaudi's 'La Segrada Familia'- the temple in Barcelona, that commenced construction in 1881, and is still being built. They predict that it will be finished in 2015. When I am twenty-six.
I visited the temple with my family about three years ago, and it really was a most stunningly poignant building. The fact that Gaudi designed it, knowing he would never see it in completion is so incomprehensible to me. It just shows that he must have seen it as something separate to his own creation, something that had to be born.
Here is a picture of my brother and I, in front of the towers. This photo is definitely a freeze-frame, because since then, the cathedral has been built further, Sebastian has shot up to my height, and my hair is MUCH longer... and browner!



A big thank-you to Anushka over at magic-fingers, for making me feel so welcome in the blogging community, I am just humbled by your linkingPOWERS! And I just wanted to say that I am very much enjoying blogging, It is much more fun than I initially thought it would be!

xxx Ruby xxx

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