My talk to The Blake Society in London on my painting ‘Australia A Prophecy’, 25th Jan 2023
I was invited to give an illustrated talk to the Blake Society in London in January about my painting Australia A Prophecy in January 2023 around my connections with ORC, the fictional character from his 1793 poem America A Prophecy. Blake’s poem inspired me explore the fictional, metaphorical and mythological dynamics occurring in the ‘Indo-Pacific’ where I live. I’ve been told that, without any past knowledge of Blake’s poetry, it still makes sense since it’s about using poetry to try to understand the events of the world today.
Working with Blake’s poem, his life and with a focus on his epic ‘prophecies’ I gained insights which helped to shape this painting. Started in lockdown it evolved over several months in which there were many changes in the Indo-Pacific region where I live. By using my imagination and engaging with Blake’s Orc as a creative tool, I gained insights that helped my painting process.
This Blake Society talk is focused very much on my actual painting and creative process, and how the imaginative aspects of our contemporary myths may help us to understand our present predicaments, and the people and issues of today across a lens of culture, art and time. Highlights for me were the high level of everyone’s questions, their kindness in feedback to me and the Society’s outgoing Chair Tim’s comparison of my painting to Blake’s work as a colourist. There can be no greater compliment than that from Blakeans dedicated to keeping Blake’s legacy alive for future generations. I feel truly honoured for the opportunity to share my art with them and I really enjoyed it.
Somehow, a bit of humour came out in this talk which compliments the academic article I did for the Routledge journal Critical Military Studies titled: “Exploring the mythic, subconscious & literary tensions in our Indo-Pacific region”. Special thank you to Stephen and to Ian for running the slides. The Blake Society is a registered charity in the UK.
My Little Plugs:
The Goldleaf Factory, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Marvelous place
https://www.churchillcolorlabs.com/, Leederville, WA, Australia. Wonderful canning and colour matching
The Blake Society, London, UK
