Why is there no walk this weekend?
Well, there is a lot going on here in
Acton! Ask Rachel Pepper , Director of ARTification, if you don't believe me! And I am busy too, but remember, if anyone wants a walk and talk,
whether locally, or further afield, just give me a shout and we'll see what can
be done!
All roads led to Acton Library today,
but Yousif managed to get lost (or misled, according to him) and landed first
at the Central Ealing Library which made him late.
The session started without him and everything was going on smoothly when I arrived, a bit late myself, after a busy morning. My former student and a dear friend paid us a visit and then I tried to steer him gently towards the library, but didn’t succeed in doing so. However, we had the most delicious pizza I’ve had in a long time, and it was in a nearby restaurant of the name Genuine Italiano, next to The North China Restaurant by The Gym. By the way, the Italian couple who own the place are wonderful people and it is like being in a friends’ house.
When I was going up the stairs to the
library, I was nearly bumped into by Waqas on his way for food supplies. It was
lunchtime and he was getting some falafels for everyone. I’d have never managed
to have a proper camera ready to capture him then. Long live smartphones! ;-)
Everyone was busy at one of the two
round tables upstairs set up for our session. They were drawing pictures on the
theme of their identity and I joined in as soon as I had exchanged hugs with
everyone. It is so nice to see the familiar friendly faces, but hugging is even
nicer and more important as it releases endorphins and creates positive energy.
Soon I was joined at the table by two or three children who quickly got very
involved in the activity. I was surprised when a boy of no more than eight
asked me to show him how to use a pencil sharpener. I’m sure he could teach me
a lot about computer games, of which I know nothing. Not my piece of cake. An
Afghan girl was waiting patiently till I finished with the only red crayon to
complete a picture of her home country flag. The other girl, younger one, came up
to me and kept saying ‘Green’, ‘Green’ as that was the colour she needed. Their
mothers were chatting away in their own language behind the table as the children
were absorbed with their work.
Not much later my friend Hannah came
in, took out her father’s professional crayons and started to draw a fish.
How
symbolic for a native islander is that?! ;-) I must be honest and tell you that
her reasoning for choosing the fish was different. She told me she sometimes
thinks how it would be to be a different being and also that this fish has a
facial expression that reminds her of the faces she sometimes makes. Hope you
don’t mind me saying so, Hannah?
 |
| Hanna's fish photographed by Hannah |
Well, compared to Hanna’s fish, my
picture looked really poor indeed as I was using the crayons on the table. The
idea I had in mind was to show me with my arms stretching in both direction and
hugging the whole globe. I drew a large heart on my chest to show my love for
the world. I finished the drawing hurriedly as soon as Yousif finally arrived.
We needed to clear the table to make room for the big scroll on which we were
to continue our project. Yousif made a start by drawing some intricate red squiggles
and then made me take over. Again, I went for a ‘realistic’ subject and drew a
forest with a big tree fallen to show what we are doing to our world. A student
from a local college drew in blue next to me. We had a small chat before he
left.
Soon it was three o’clock and we had
to clear the tables as they were booked for a party that was to start soon.
I don't know what others did after
our arty session in search of identity at the Acton Library, but three of us
needed to chill out and we ended back at the Genuine Italiano Restaurant over
some beverages and homemade tiramisu which was an absolute delight. I still
felt arty, especially in the company of Yousif
Naser, ARTification artist in residence, and Hannah Comley, whose singing we listened to at the restaurant,
and who might be persuaded to join us! (I am working on it!).
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