I'm glad you're alive!

The latest woodcut is taken from a hand-written note.  I was challenged recently to think about the philosophy that underlies my politics and having thought about it for a while, I woke up in the middle of the night with 'I'm glad you're alive!' running through my head. 

The phrase might seem trite, or twee at first glance but presented as a woodcut print in a formal setting, does it open up a deeper train of thought? Who is 'I' and who is'you' - is it one person, many people, or all people?

In my personal philosophy, I place a very high value on the human being: every one is important and has the potential for fulfilment. I once defined my personal artistic manifesto as: "I am for an art that loves everybody". For me, everyone is an expression of the one source of all things, which some call God, although I hesitate to use the word because our civilisation has created a character called 'God', choosing words to put in his mouth to justify our own actions, to condemn others' and conjour all sorts of mean-spirited bigotry. 

Anyway, as a thought-experiment, imagine treating every person you meet as though you are truly glad they are alive; valuing their lives and abilities, their past and future. It places heavy demands on our politics, priorities, and attitudes. That idea, glimpsed from the corner of my eye is the one I want to explore when I say 'I'm glad you're alive!'.

This project is only just beginning - watch this space.

New Woodcut

The latest woodcut 'Together', is finally finished. I ended up with an edition of 9 prints. The four colours are all different mixes of French Ultramarine, Poppy Red, Golden Yellow and Opaque White.

The text emerging from the colour fields was originally intended as an expression of impotent rage against a government that is imposing savage spending cuts in the name of austerity which impact disproportionately on women and on the poorest people in our (UK) society. The infamous claim by millionaire Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was that 'we are all in this together'. He didn't say 'this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me' but he could have done! 

However there is another, deeper, meaning in the text, away from cheap political point-scoring and thinking more holistically about us as a species on the planet: as the human race. There is a real sense in which recognising our shared responsibilities toward each other, our common humanity and interdependence is a prerequisite for a politics that might see human beings survive, in freedom, in the long term. My view of human beings is a high one, and my life and politics are informed by the conviction that all people are important, that human rights are universal, and that we really are 'all in this together'.