Category Archives: Writing

Art, current affairs, Discussion, drawing, Joy C Martindale, Writing

Tracing A Tracing

Tracing a tracing today. Such an absorbing process. Once the tracing is finished, I will cut out all the sections filled in blue and attach them to linen. I’ll then cut out the sections in linen.

Drawing by Joy C Martindale (01/12/2023)

Today, I have been listening to a song called Ma Lkit by Tunisian singer songwriter Emel Mathlouthi.

It is heartbreaking that the ceasefire was broken this morning, and already 60 civilians are reported to have been killed in Gaza.

This song makes me think about the individual lives lost in this conflict. The loss of each life is a loss to the whole world. It is appalling that civilians are being killed. The ceasefire must be reinstated.

Lyrics sourced from lyricstranslate.com

Ma Lkit/ I didn’t find

I didn’t find a place to walk on with my eyes closed
I didn’t find one friend who knows what to tell me
I didn’t find a sea wave , wave that sails me far away

I didn’t find talk to say my unsure opinion
I didn’t find something to explain, explain the meaning of what is happening
I didn’t find a melody that breaks, breaks human’s anger
I didn’t find my people
I didn’t find my family
I didn’t find rest
I didn’t find happiness
I didn’t find my way

I didn’t find a burning star that would set my feeling on fire

I didn’t find talk to express my unsure opinion
I didn’t find something to explain, explain the meaning of what is happening
I didn’t find a melody that breaks, breaks human’s anger
I didn’t find my people
I didn’t find my family
I didn’t find rest
I didn’t find happiness
I didn’t find my way

Here are the opening lines in Arabic

ما لقيت بلاصا نمشي نغمض فيها عينايا
ما لقيت صاحب و احد يعرف ما يرد علي
ما لقيت مو جة تبحر ، تبحر بي لبعيد

ما لقيت كلام نقو لو ا نعبر به راني حاير
ما لقيت حاخة تفسر ، تفسر معنى إلي صاير
ما لقيت لحن يكسر ، يكسر حقد الإنسان
ما لقيت ناسي
ما لقيت أهلي
ما لقيت راحة
ما لقيت فرحة
ما لقيت طر يقي ، ما لقيت ثنيتي

The translator comments on the difficulty of translating feelings. I’m not an Arabic speaker, but I find the words full of feeling and reading the translated lyrics whilst listening to the music stirs up deep emotions of sadness and frustration in me. As I return to my drawing, I am reminded of Philip Guston’s reflections during the Vietnam War in 1965:

“What kind of man am I sitting at home, reading magazines, going into a frustrated fury about everything – and then going into my studio to adjust a red to a blue?” Philip Guston

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, New Work, Personal histories, Textiles, video, Writing

Something to Work Into. Something to Work Against.

I cut off a smallish piece from a section of fishing net I found on the beach. The diamond lattice is broken in places and the nylon threads are frayed and tired. I hold the piece in my hands and consider its flimsiness, then I take a long length of red cotton caulking and wrap it round and round the netting and keep going until the structure is covered and begins to plumpen. I select a couple of my children’s old t-shirts – they’re too worn to wear or pass on and I have held on to them wondering about how to extend their life. I cut them into strips and begin to bind them tightly around the caulking. It’s February and chilly in the studio and I sit hunched over at my desk. The cold makes my movements small and concentrated but I work quickly as I consider my next move. The colours of the fabrics clash with one another: All the better, I think – something to work against. I keep wrapping the strips of fabric until I have something of density to work into – something that enticingly feels as wrong as it does right.

 

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Art, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, Mental Health, Personal histories, Textiles, Writing

New Work ‘Before and After the Trial’

WEB NEW Before and after the trial back

Before and After the Trial (2017) Joy C Martindale

It begins light and flimsy – a small, broken piece of nylon fishing net – but becomes dense and weighty. With each stitch and mark, with each piece of cloth that I wrap around it I feel myself grow calmer. I stay with the work; I anchor myself to it and by doing so I resist the impulse to run. A cloud shape begins to suggest itself, perhaps only I can see it. My son likens the emerging form to a butterfly. But really the work is only itself. I think it is becoming strong enough to take all my feelings. Bits of it are flawed, frayed, damaged, dirty. I keep going, binding it up as one would a bandage and stitching, stitching, stitching. Catharsis comes through repetition until the moment arrives when it can hold itself together.

 And then, after the trial, I return to it again. I am a new person – stronger, more determined –there is more work to do. It is not finished yet.

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Art, Article, contemporary use of textiles, fabric, Joy C Martindale, Mental Health, Personal histories, Textiles, Writing

Made In Plymouth Magazine

Web Joy in apron

Portrait of the Artist, Joy C Martindale (2017) by Danny Burrows

I am pleased to announce that Made In Plymouth magazine have published my new article: The Burden of My Anxieties.

Read it here: http://madeinplymouth.co.uk/project/the-burden-of-my-anxieties/ 

The article proposes that the suffering women feel when in crisis is a commonly shared experience and it considers the role of GP care, in particular the work of the Beacon Medical Practice in Plymouth, in supporting women’s mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.

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