How to distribute leaflets like mine amidst what seem like endless flag protests?
I have often been asked what I am doing but never have I felt the backdrop of my work as charged as it is now. During the exhibition in PS2 the flag protests began and even in the relative shelter of the gallery the juxtaposition felt very strange to me.
I have decided to take a break from distributing the tracts for a time and spend this time developing their content further.
I am a little over half wa
y through the making and distributing of tracts (see earlier posts for details) As the project progresses I have been trying to work out how to make the work visible to those beyond the tiny portion of public I engage with whilst out on the streets. I have already discussed how the work is validated and the problems of electing to make work outside an informed public but still having the desire to have it recognised as art. In finding ways to spread the work and address these concerns I began hand writing personal letters to a select group of people inviting them to become collectors of the work. I picked 14 people who have influenced the work in some way. This influence ranges from being the first person to follow my blog, to writing a key text that I have used in my research. I will not list the names here suffice to say that I consider each one of true value in my work and dearly value any opinion they may be willing to share.
Each letter written addressed the reason I had chosen to invite that person to collect the work and included the first few tracts in the series. I sent out the letters and waited. This waiting became very uncomfortable as I began to conclude that the work was not strong when removed from its context here in Belfast. This is a definite fear I held. I spoke with a tutor about how to follow-up the letters as sending more out into the world without hope of reply did not appeal to me. It was suggested that I email those I had first written to and say I was getting ready to send the next set of tracts and an update on the project and asking did they wish to be included. On opening my laptop to begin I found my first reply waiting for me. One of the collectors had emailed to say how pleased they were to have received the work and they would love to continue to collect them. This really boosted me in sending out emails to the other potential collectors. Of
the 14 originally sent 12 want to continue collecting the work and 2 gave no reply.
I am currently working on a way to present the tracts as a set and also this will double as a gift to the collectors. Each will receive a book which their collected tracts can be mounted into. This book will also be available in a limited edition to buy. These will be made of tracts that remained from the limited edition sets and I plan to have 40 in all including those that will be sent to the collectors. These two images show the prototype for the book.
I am really enjoying the process of the project, addressing problems as they arise with creative solutions.
Day 3 found me shuffling in alongside the Festival of fools. I was surrounded by street performers and again set myself up beside the tourist information map at Cornmarket. As it was a saturday there were mostly teenagers in town and many shared their opinion of what I was doing and what I looked like as they went past, for the first time I really realised what I must look like. I look younger than I am and I am sure if I was an older man I would not be subjected to the “whispering” shouts of how stupid I am and how much my presence pisses them off.
As has happened a few times on other tract giving days, I saw a few people I know. One stopped to chat and said “that looks like a Jesus thing” and I explained it is meant to. That this tract was a reaction to always being asked if I am saved and how I hate that question. Instead I would ask are you lost and then offer some direction only to those who asked. That as an atheist I wanted to be able to have a presence in Belfast that is helpful.
Some young boys asked directions for Kennedy square. It isn’t on my map and I googled it but couldn’t find it, they stayed and waited for a bit then said not to worry and on they went, another couple passed and asked the way to rosemary street. I was looking at my map when they spotted it and even though I had been no help at all they still thanked me. Two tourists from Spain arrived to look at the map and wanted to know where to go and get the titanic bus tour – again I wasn’t much help. I have to admit my morale was pretty low at this point. I put myself in the position where I am offering advice on something that is not a strong point of mine. I real this awkward tension is important for my work so I resolve to carry on.
A girl asked if I had seen a group of girls one of which is wearing a purple hat, I would have laughed if she hadn’t looked so worried. I asked if she was meant to meet them in Cornmarket and she explained they had all gone into a shop then left without her. I offered my phone to call them and she told me she didn’t have their numbers. She told me they aren’t very nice before wandering off in search of them anyway.
A large group of girls and boys stopped, basically to make fun of me. They asked for directions to all the shops, one by one, that are around the edge of Cornmarket and were in plain view of where I was standing. I patiently answered every question. One boy in the group said she is just making fun of you and I said “that’s ok I have plenty of time” When they realised I wasn’t getting annoyed they left. I was secretly singing inside at managing to find a way to remain totally patient, it felt like a performance break through.
I went for a cup of tea after the distribution and bumped into several people, some artists and friends in town for the festival of fools. Each asked about my project and gave great encouragement. Saying how interesting it was to deal with this topic in this way and how courageous. We talked about how rejection can be motivation. The inner feeling of believing you are right and the more people who disagree or reject this, the more important the work becomes.
It was really exciting to talk to people who knew about my work, a real change from my encounters with the public but it left me feeling sheepish. No matter how I choose to work in public without disclosing that I consider it performance or art it is still when I return into the art fold that I receive my validation and after an afternoon out on the streets I welcome this validation more than I feel I should.
So taking a break while you write a PhD proposal is not the best way to keep up momentum. I began today having had the little push of Saturdays distribution but as reluctant as ever. Several people suggested that seeing I have to push myself to go out every day that maybe this style of work just isn’t for me. But the buzz I feel having gone out and done the distribution and the interactions and expressions of people passing let me know not only is this project a test for me but it is a test of the expectations of others.
This distribution is interesting following the last tract ( A love of Baking) as I am far more visible holding the sign and there is no novelty of free buns to ease the interaction. This tract asks are you lost? I held the sign above throughout my distribution and offered directions to those that asked. I stood at Cornmarket for todays distribution though I would like to try moving around a bit more to keep with the crowds.
The sign needs a little adjusting tomorrow as it is more difficult to hold than I anticipated especially in the wind but as a visual it worked really well. Several people stopped that were looking for directions the first a group of school kids wanted directions to a piercing shop I hadn’t heard of but I was able to direct them to another piercing and tattoo place which I know well. They seemed a little shocked that I would know somewhere like that but took their hand drawn map and went off to find it. One of the boys had no ID and was looking for somewhere that would pierce his tongue anyway.
The next person was looking for the Merchant and had spent an hour wandering around Cathedral Quarter without finding it, she took a hand drawn map to use tomorrow as she hadn’t time today to look again. After this I helped a young couple find JJB sports by looking it up online on my phone and another group of tourists to find Waring Street as they were looking for somewhere there to get something nice to eat.
A couple of women stopped to take my photo and several people commented on their way past with one boy saying “no, im not lost you have found me” Those that needed directions had no problem in asking and many fewer people took a religious connotation from this action than usual however those that did where really angered by the saying on the sign. I found this strangely pleasing as that is the same anger I feel when asked if I am saved.
If you are lost in Belfast keep an eye out for me and my sign I’ll do my best to give you directions.
I was invited to perform at the Creative Change Northern Ireland Exhibition today in Downpatrick. (http://www.creativechangeni.com) Bronagh Lawson had asked that I transport my practice to Downpatrick and I was really interested to test the work outside of Belfast.
I brought a selection of the tracts I have produced so far and set myself up at a bench around the corner from the St. Patrick Centre where the exhibition was being shown. In Belfast I pick locations used by street preachers or evangelists but I don’t know much about Downpatrick and so I picked this spot as it was practical and a nice mix of shade so I could see properly and sun so I wasn’t too cold. It was a popular spot as I was joined by two charity collectors during my hour and a quarter.
After a clumsy start which involved chasing some tracts down the street after they blew away I settled into my normal routine. I began to realise that although I still find giving the tracts out in Belfast scary, that I recognise a lot of the people who pass by and find this reassuring in a way. It is a familiar rejection rather than an unknown one. In Downpatrick I felt a little lost. It was also odd as there are so many visible churches in Downpatrick and on my journey there.
A few people stopped to ask what the tracts were and one lady took a Love of Baking tract and sent her friend back to get the others, she thought they were all recipes and wanted the full set, I reached for the others to hand them to her but explained they aren’t all recipes so she walked away without a word!
A young man walked past and asked what they were I again was holding a Love of Baking tract and said it was a story and a recipe, he took it and when he passed by again later he said good work. Another lady stopped to say her grand-daughter makes buns but she doesn’t give them away she sells them. And she finished by saying how pleased she was to meet have met me.
When giving out the other tracts I felt more unsure of the reaction I would receive. It was obvious people recognised them as religious literature as so many people looked at them and moved away or gave dirty looks as they passed. I feel a little out of practice in giving the tracts out as I have given more time over to reading and writing than I have done for a while. I am waiting to hear if I will get an interview for a PhD which would allow me to continue this project and really build on its criticality and focus. Once I hear I will add the proposal i wrote to the blog, for now here are some images from today.
Thinking about what may happen is the hardest part of standing on the street day after day to be rejected. I began distribution at 1pm and by 2pm had given away the first 100 tracts. For this tract I have used a different image as a border, the last two looked very similar to the true religious tracts whereas this one was black, white and red and looked a little different. The colours look like protest leaflets and several people asked if it was about women’s rights. I guess I looked like a cross between a promoter of some sort and an evangelist and so I used the techniques Andrea Montgomery and I worked on if people spoke to me. I did not ask people to stop and talk outright for two reasons, firstly, if the tract looked different I wanted to see how this worked on its own as a strategy and secondly it was a bit daunting. I didn’t want people to have a bad experience of the project so I need more practise and will work on this before for tract 4. I will go back to a more traditional layout and really work at an actual dialogue in person and then afterwards on this blog.
I met Arthur Magee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPb1w6spNYE) we had a great chat about his solo shows and walks and about what I am attempting with this mission. One thing I realised though is that once you mention religion there is no middle ground. I am occupying a sort of no mans land. I am not against religion, I am not interested in focussing on the bad problems people have with religion as a way to popularise my work, rather I want to provide an alternative dialogue. I want to create a space for those who want to discuss their ways of living and being in a place like Belfast. I am not an evangelist for atheism but rather an evangelist for open discussion.
Day 2 was 23rd December, it seems people understand why you would go shopping this close to Christmas but it is not normal to choose to be in town to give out tracts. Several people asked why I wasn’t at home relaxing, implying it wouldn’t make a difference to anyone if I was there or not. As an artist I fear this is sometimes true. It is my practice but why should it matter to anyone else. The answer is clear to me at points. My themes are everyday experiences which are accessible but this also makes it harder to clearly define it as art when explaining my practice to the wider public.
Here are some of the experiences of the day
1. Free bible giver who regularly distributes from the point where I was standing. He assumed I was Christian then when I explained this was not the case he seemed quite annoyed. Did I have a right to appropriate something that is Christian and what is the point? He inferred Christians give these leaflets out to encourage faith but if I am faithless what is my driving force. I suggested among other things it was a statement about ownership of morality, that we are capable of living with values without the religion.
2. “Oh a tract! God bless you” This man stopped with his family to give encouragement as he was sure I wouldn’t be getting much encouragement. He referenced the title of the tract and said that we must remember that this really was the “perfect Gift”
3. “I just want to say im so glad you are out here today” A girl tapped my shoulder and on her way past and I noticed her jumper was from a church mission as she passed.
Several people also said “Bless you” as they took tracts, as with the last tract I was uncomfortable with them misreading my intentions and found this more difficult than the people who took tracts and seemed annoyed by the religious content.
4. “Oh I’ll take one I really need it” was said by a passerby in a football shirt as he laughed to himself and walked on.
5. A man stopped and asked why was I out here and not at home with my family. I tried to hand him a leaflet but he couldn’t read or write and asked me to explain what it said. I began to tell the story but he interrupted to ask where I was from. I answered Belfast when he continued to say he had been in prison for 16 years for what he called a “religion based crime” and continued to ask where in Belfast I was from. I have never felt more clearly that what was meant wasn’t where are you from but which side are you from Protestant or Catholic. I answered near Stormont and he confidently explained I was from the other side from him. He then said he couldn’t figure me out at all but had one more question – was I married.
So after giving out 90 tracts I headed home. I was struggling with whether to return again on Christmas Eve.
How to deal with unwanted Christmas presents on the guardian (shortlink below)
Still working on my second tract but think I have a working title, I am really interested in how as Mauss suggests gifts function as reminder to the receiver that they are effectively in debt to the giver until a gift of equal or greater value is offered in return.
Juliemillerart Blog 