Melbourne.
After yesterday’s conversation with my aunt and uncle, I have found a shape for my thesis.
In London last January, my uncle and I had watched Sally Potter’s film Tango Lessons. The film is structured around the lessons, with each teaching more than just the Tango. Layers of meaning come through, mostly without words. The film as a whole is a dance, whose meaning comes through its use of time, space and energy. Shot mostly in black and white, with stark dramatic sets, the sound and screen design are similarly sparse. You have the space to read in personal meanings and find connections with the dancing couple and your own life’s dance.
Having started work with my study group, I am now posing questions and learning from responses of others. I can now see my thesis structured as lessons – lessons in listening to what the ice tells us. The title: Loquacious Ice.
Classes: Land, Connection, Dialogue, Transformation, Action
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Last night I went to Simon’s house. Four of us shared his cooking. I enjoyed hearing different people talking about art and climate change. I learned more what I am doing through responding to their questions.
Simon said he writes as a way to understand things. I find the same with talking and making art. I know it is high time I started on my thesis. At last I can see a way. I needed a structure within which to begin. I can start in the middle, or the end or the start. It doesn’t matter where, as long as I am building it.
Simon’s only question tonight was: how are you documenting the study group sessions?
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I had lunch with a woman from Chile and recorded our conversation. She was 13 years old when she went to Antarctica, and has worked there many times since, studying birds in the field. She described how Antarctica changed her previous view of the world. She said that her time spent down there has made her who she is now.