Current Read:

A View from the Bridge / All my sons by Arthur Miller

Article Fifteen - The Strange & Unusual

Literature │The Strange & Unusual
Darkmans by Nicola Barker

(published in "Avrupa" newspaper)

The first thing that one notices when picking up this hefty novel by Barker is the sheer size of it, 834 pages to be exact. This may seem like an off putting thought, but it would be a mistake to allow this prospect to stop you from picking this book up or turning it into a door stopper. I shant class it as an easy read, as its dialogue can become frustrating in parts as certain facts and conversations are repeated, but it certainly has an uncanny flow about it. It may seem a little ridiculous that 838 pages only covers a few days in the lives of a few characters that live in Ashford, Kent, but Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway was based on one day and that was a success.

Barker introduces her characters one after the after, the first scene portrays a difficult and strained relationship between father and son, the son, Kane, grew up without his father, Beede, and had to look after his suffering dying mother, which makes him choose a life in supplying drugs to those that are in pain, his father sees him as a drug dealer whereas he sees himself as offering a service that the doctors or families are unable to supply. As other characters are slowly introduced, one is able to match up their connections to one another as well as strange situations that at first seem completely separate but are in fact intertwined with one another.

Barker is quite a humorous writer who takes uncomfortably hilarious situations to a darker side, not only through action, but also through speech. The term “the strange and unusual” was a term that was certainly coined for the likes of Barker, who brings together a hotchpotch of characters, there’s obviously the estranged father and son, a chiropodist with a child who has some strange form of second site, with a husband who has a multiple personality, and is haunted by an irregular past. There is also Kelly who is a sharp tongued anorexic who comes from a dysfunctional family and tries to reach out to others but pulls back, not allowing herself to trust others, until a defining moment, not to mention a crazy man stalking the woods at night with a large knife, and of course, there is the haunting character of a medieval jester who pops up throughout the novel.

Barker has a fantastic imagination with the ability to sustain her writing power all the way till the end of the book which is certainly a commendable ability. With most stories, whether they are folk tales, ghost stories, short or long, one is able to go about reading it without detecting a thin veil which keeps us, the reader, separate from the author and the magic invisibility surrounding its creation. However, with Darkmans it is as though the veil is lifted every now and then, exposing the turning cogs and the author’s presence which is meant to be hidden. It is the novel’s technical aspects that become exposed; the reader is able to establish Barker’s researched subjects such as Japanese art swords, the history between the Turks and Kurds, dog birth, the history of art and symbolism, the list goes on, this may be due to the way that she delivers such information which can at times feel as though she has either studied a number of books or briefly ‘googled’ certain facts, making the invisible line visible.

Along with the many haunting aspects within the story, is the concept of the past, the past is what moulds each character, dictating how they react to outside forces and to one another, and the very glue that holds the book together. Barker’s writing is a very unique experience as it does not follow what would be classed as the confined norms of literature; dialogue can take up one page after another and that dialogue is not always terribly exciting, but in the great scheme of things, seems to have a purpose which eventually becomes clear. Barker herself has claimed that she wants the reader to feel discomfort, and this she goes about successfully as each character’s darkness seeps out of their loosened edges, and that is what this novel is essentially about, it’s about people.

©Zehra Mustafa

Article Fourteen - A Portrait of an Artist

Art │A Portrait of an Artist
Şifa Mustafa, artist

(published in "Avrupa")

When did you know that you wanted to pursue a life in art?
I’ve always wanted to do something within the creative field. I’m quite musical, I play a number of instruments, I draw inspiration from my surroundings and music helps. I use to go to drama classes; I wanted to be an actress and study it at university but decided to study art, as it’s what I truly enjoy.

Where did you first study art?
I studied at Camberwell College of Art for a year where I did a foundation course, and I then moved away to Goldsmiths, all the way to New Cross from Peckham, where I’m studying History of Art.

What was Camberwell like?
It was pretty amazing, it was really quite funny, I had really great inspiring teachers, actually, they weren’t so much inspiring, as they were quite critical. One of teachers was a professional sculptor and she really knocked one of my pieces, I was having a lot of fun with some mod rock and wall paper and she completely hated it and wanted me to destroy it immediately. The people were quite nice; I’ve kept in contact with two very talented artists, Sean Kirwin & Murray O’ Grady, so watch out for them.

What made you decide to study History of Art?
I guess what made me choose History of Art was that I didn’t want to be an artist that could walk the walk but not be able to talk the talk because there are so many of those and I just really wanted to get into the critical and theoretical side, and learn more, and I guess it has, it’s taught me not only about art but philosophy and politics.

How did you feel when you sold your first art piece?
It was really weird when I sold my first piece; it wasn’t so much a painting. I had a little stall of little posters, and postcards that I had made for the Horniman Indian festival last year, it was something small but when I sold my first card I was so excited, and it was quite awful and painful watching people walk by and say “oh it’s lovely” and not buy anything, but in this path you’re always going to get “walker- bys” who won’t do anything or say anything, but it takes just one person to notice you and you’re there.

Which artists have inspired you?
Lots, there’s Louise Bourgeois, I love everything about her, she’s an amazing woman as well as an amazing artist, she’s very experimental in her sculpture and paintings, but I love how she integrates textile into her work. She questions the boundary between craft and art, what is art? What is craft? Is it highlighting what is domestic art and questioning those gender biases that come with art? I also really respect Susan Hiller, she actually trained as an archaeologist, so a lot of “that” is apparently seen in her work which I question, but I think she’s amazing artist. I also like Anselm Kiefer, I love the way he paints, it’s very textural and it’s always interesting when art makes you want to touch it and he always makes me want to touch his work.

What are your main difficulties when it comes to art?
The main difficulty is trying to get out “there.” The first step is always a difficult step, I mean when you are doing art, there’s nothing more personal than creating, and when it’s not always liked, it’s a little hurtful, but you have to get a tough skin in this world. I’m pretty fine with people not liking anything that I do, art isn’t always about creating a pleasurable experience, but it’s all about personal taste and at the end of the day, art is a personal taste and it comes in fashion and I refuse to start doing sculpture because it’s “fashionable” or doing a certain type of craft because it’s in fashion. There are lots of artists who will almost sell their soul I guess in order to be noticed, but if that’s what gets you noticed…you still have a choice, of course you do. I think once I can’t get bread on the table I might have to sell my soul. I’m not there yet.

Which gallery do you favour in London?
There are too many. My favourite gallery is London, London itself, London is a gallery, the streets are galleries, the people are galleries, the buildings are amazing, the skies, the people...

Who is your favourite author?
I guess I could say something profound like Emile Zola or Sartre, but I’m a massive Jane Austen fan. I love the way she writes, I love her stories, whenever I pick up her novels I have a massive grin on my face, deep down, I’m just an old romantic and every time there’s a little trouble ahead, my heart pounds, and when Mr Darcy at the end of the book sweeps Elizabeth Bennet away, my heart races, especially in Persuasion. Jane Austen is an amazing writer, and if you can get someone’s heart racing that fast, then you know you’re doing something right.

What kind of music do you love?
I don’t have a specific category, I love classical, and I love rock, and indie, and I…I hate rap, but at the moment I’ve been listening a lot to a band called Beirut, it’s sort of gypsy, folk/ Parisian/ Russian/Balkan, they’re worldly I guess, they’re pretty amazing. I’m never in a bad mood to listen to Leonard Cohen, I always put him, Patti Smith is pretty cool too, I’m a bit out of swing with what’s on the radio.

When is your next exhibition?
My next exhibition is actually going to be at the conservatory in Horniman Gardens on the 4th & 5th of July, it’s a small exhibition which they have annually in the summer and it’s my first time there.

Are you aware of your gender as an artist?
I am female, I’m a painter, but I’m not a female painter, I don’t think there is such a thing as the female painter or male painter. If you look back into the past you do have the male painter such as Jackson Pollock, king of abstract expressionism but I never take it into account that I’m a female painter, I don’t think there should be a boundary between whether your female or male, and I don’t think that when viewing art you should think “oh a female did this, therefore there must be this and this” although, it’s something that always happens, especially in performance art, gender is always the first thing that one recognises, but it’s something that’s always going to be highlighted in art, which it shouldn’t, but it does.

Do you know anything weird?
The Hare Krishna chant, I could tell you it if you want…

A few facts:

Born: London, 1988
High Point: New possibilities.
Pet Hate: I hate rudeness and public transport, oh and the hospital emergency room, I’ve never had a pleasurable experience there.

©Zehra Mustafa

Words

The work must go on, today I'm going to attempt to tackle editing my book, the tedious work goes on, at least I was able to take a break from it last week and started compiling my poetry together which I am getting ready hopefully for the printers. But as I said, the editing must go on if I want a chance, and so on this grey Tuesday, I searched for a poem that best describes today's mood, so here's one from Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing, even a great wordsmith like Cohen knows not to take it all too seriously.

"Thousands"

Out of the thousands
who are known,
or who want to be known
as poets,
maybe one or two
are genuine
and the rest are fakes,
hanging around the sacred precincts
trying to look like the real thing.
Needless to say
I am one of the fakes
and this is my story.

A poem for the day

"Troubled Sky" by Charles Baudelaire

Your gaze appears with vaporous overcast:

Blue, grey or green? Your eyes mysterious,

Pensive or tender or tyrannical,

Reflect the indolence of heaven pale.

You bring to mind those white, warm, misty hours,

Which make the spellbound heart dissolve in tears,

When, troubled by pain indefinable,
The nerves, too wakeful, mock the sleeping soul.

And you are sometimes like horizons fine

Illumined by the suns of autumn time...

Wet landscape, shimmering resplendently,

Lit up by sunshine from a troubled sky!

O woman perilous, alluring climes!

O, shall I worship, too, your snow and rime,

And in your wintertime implacable

Discover sharper joys than ice and steel?