An exhibition for our time. Qu Leilei and Caroline Deane’ Calligraphy Forest of Misinformation.
I went to London to see Qu Leilei and his partner Caroline Deane’s exhibition Calligraphy Forest of Misinformation. It was a moving experience. It was originally shown in Milan and is inspired by a phenomenon of our time
The most blatant example of Truth being called False is Donald Trump’s constant calling facts ‘False News’. This lying is not new (See quote from the Red Mansion) but its impact is felt more because of social media. Leilei and Caroline use calligraphy in ancient styles and highlight distortions of the truth.
This example where I am standing with Leilei is the calligraphy for TRUTH except it is turned upside down.
Caroline and Leilei invited us to write our thoughts. I wrote SAT NAM the Sanskrit word at the heart of Sikhism. It means TRUTH – above all Truth. I quoted Keats ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Conversely, denying the truth is ugly because it involves distortion and destruction.
I met Qu Leilei when I reviewed his exhibition at the Ashmolean. Everyone’s Life is an Epic was to have a life changing effect on me. It led to 5 years of work, interviewing Qu Leilei and other Stars artists, researching visiting China and then writing Brushstrokes in Time. A desire to tell the untold story of the courageous Stars artist led me to become a novelist. I wanted readers to know what it felt like- as well as the facts- a way of living the truth. Here is a short feature by me about the Stars artists and their brief Beijing Spring . It has a trailer to the film and includes Ai Weiwei and Leilei’s voice in English.
Leilei talking about art
In my memoir Food of Love , I have used this picture of Caroline and I in Beijing with Leilei’s mother when I was researching for Brushstrokes in Time.
If you want to know more of Leilei’s inspirational story I describe it as 9 lives in this profile feature. Qu Leilei Castaway
My advice, in Food of Love, to Expect the Unexpected was inspired by a shark in roof.
In the ‘Appetiser’ to my memoir Food of Love: Cooking up a life across Gender, Class and Race, I include a photograph of an unusual sculpture being placed in a roof in Headington.
I only give two pieces of advice in my book and one is inspired by the Headington Shark. That is ‘to expect the unexpected’.
I had the privilege of casting away, on my imagined island of Oxtopia, both the artist who made it, John Buckley, and the owner of the house, Bill Heine. Bill Heine’s son Marcus now owns it and is in this youtube video describing what happened.
Bill was a presenter on Radio Oxford and was able to invite on guest presenters. He invited me and , several times, asked me to review the papers on a Sunday as well as interviewed me on subjects as diverse as libraries and overseas aid.
One question was ‘Should Charity begin at home?’ I agreed that charity should BEGIN at home but asserted that it shouldn’t END there. Love should not be corked in a bottle but should be allowed to expand like a river which grows bigger as it makes its way to the sea. The same with our culture . I don’t believe anyone regrets that our food culture has changed from the restricted diet of the fifties. We are the richer for being able to taste the world. I hope the recipes in Food of Love are good examples of that brilliant diversity.
Bill’s castaway choice of object was another John Buckley sculpture titled Embrace See pic below. Their aim with this sculpture was to put it on the Berlin Wall but that came down. When I saw it, I suggested they put it on the Belfast Wall and wrote this poem about it.
Embrace by Sylvia Vetta
Joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
whatever the tension, whatever the pain
Be bound -wrapped around -inseparable.
In tender embrace you struggle.
you ask why and how you became
joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
From different communities you blame
the other, you fight, you cry, you soften,
you are bound – wrapped around -inseparable.
One from the church; the other the chapel.
A fateful kiss and God willing amen
joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
With distrust and hate you wrestle
as your bindings stiffen.
You are bound – wrapped around – inseparable.
Stand upon the wall and be a symbol.
Bask in sun, survive the rain and remain,
joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
Be bound – wrapped around – inseparable.
John is a much underestimated artist so I was glad to celebrate him in Oxford Castaways . Here is his storyJohn Buckley
Breaking the Barriers of Gender, Class and Race and more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whX1OTtWkpY&t=448s
Following the publication of my memoir Food of Love, cooking up a life across gender, class and race, Catherine Whelan Costen who lives in Calgary, asked to interview me. It gave me the opportunity to share my belief that fossilised, bottled cultures are not desirable. A culture that EXPANDS is thriving. You can put spring water in bottle and cork it or you can let it flow freely and grow into a river and join the sea that touches other continents. I know what I prefer. With food comes love and with love comes hope.
I’m feeling overwhelmed by the wonderful response to Food of Love. I’ve devised three talks about it. The first is Breaking the Barriers of Gender, Class and Race – the subject of the Old Fire Station launch and these two below.
Some forthcoming talks
January 19: 6-7pm Abingdon Library
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/events/abingdon-author-talk-sylvia-vetta
Topic: Memoir in all its variety and why YOU should record your memories.
February 23: 6-7pm
Oxford Central Library: Topic: The importance of food in bringing us together. Why I invented the word ‘Communessence’. With food comes love and with love comes hope.
April 26: 6.30 -7.30pm
The London launch of Food of Love, cooking up a life through gender, class and race is
at The Nehru Centre – the High Commission of India. https://www.nehrucentre.org.uk/
The Fleur Ostojak interview with Sylvia is on BBC Radio Oxford is on the home page
The Third Oxford Indie Book Fair Nov 26 11am-4pm
At Oxib tomorrow, I’ll talk about and sign copies of my just published memoir Food of Love Cooking up a life through gender class and race. It’s received great endorsements from the journalist , Yasmin Alibhai Brown, the historian and broadcaster ,Rana Mitte , the internationally known poet Sudeep Sen, the artist Diana Bell and the academic and author Prof Jane Spiro.
https://www.oxfordindiebookfair.co.uk/whats-on/ for all 5 talks and performances.
The Oxford Mail feature about the fair includes pics from April https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23148540.oxford-indie-book-fair-environmental-theme/
I’ll bring copies of Brushstrokes in Time the only major book which tells the story of the courageous Stars artists. I invented a fictional artist to make the novel a page turner but the background to the story is true events. Listen to the artists I interviewed over 3 years on this trailer .
Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfRCHgk2YR8
Let’s celebrate courage. We are seeing amazing courage from the women of Iran . These artists needed courage too.
The photo below is of Chi Xiaoning who filmed the events of 1979- seen here on top of the Democracy Wall – yes there was one!
That film has been found is the basis of Beijing Spring . The Chief Foreign Correspondent of the Guardian , John Gittings endorsed Brushstrokes in Time.
He emailed me from Hong Kong . They are currently showing it in the Museum of Modern art -interesting!
My advice, in Food of Love, to ‘expect the unexpected’ was inspired by a shark in a roof
In the ‘Appetiser’ to my memoir Food of Love: Cooking up a life across Gender, Class and Race, I include a photograph of an unusual sculpture being placed in a roof in Headington. I only give two pieces of advice in my book and one is inspired by the Headington Shark. That is ‘to expect the unexpected’. I had the privilege of casting away, on my imagined island of Oxtopia, both the artist who made it, John Buckley, and the owner of the house, Bill Heine. Bill Heine’s son Marcus now owns it and is in this youtube video summarises what happened.
Bill was a presenter on Radio Oxford and was able to invite on guest presenters. He invited me on and, several times, asked me to review the papers on a Sunday as well as interviewed me on subjects as diverse as libraries and overseas aid. The question then was, ‘Should Charity begin at home?’ prompted by a local UKIP politician campaigning against our meagre overseas aid budget. I agreed that charity should BEGIN at home but asserted that it shouldn’t END there. Love should not be stoppered in a bottle but should flow like a river which grows bigger as it makes its way to the sea. What I didn’t say then is that our wealth was built on the profits of the trans- Atlantic slave trade and from our opium trade in the East. That too was triangular and the result of compelling Bengali farmers to grow opium instead of food crops was famine in Bengal.
Bill’s castaway choice of object was another John Buckley sculpture titled Embrace See pic below. Their aim with this sculpture was to put it on the Berlin Wall but that came down. When I saw it, I suggested they put it on the Belfast Wall and wrote this poem about it.
Embrace by Sylvia Vetta
Joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
whatever the tension, whatever the pain
Be bound -wrapped around -inseparable.
In tender embrace you struggle.
you ask why and how you became
joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
From different communities you blame
the other, you fight, you cry, you soften,
you are bound – wrapped around -inseparable.
One from the church; the other the chapel.
A fateful kiss and God willing amen
joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
With distrust and hate you wrestle
as your bindings stiffen.
You are bound – wrapped around – inseparable.
Stand upon the wall and be a symbol.
Bask in sun, survive the rain and remain,
joined at the hip; you have tasted the apple.
Be bound – wrapped around – inseparable.
John is a much underestimated artist so I was glad to celebrate him in Oxford Castaways . Here is his story
In April he was a speaker at the Oxford Indie Book Fair .
The next fair is on November 26. Here is the speaker list. I’ll be talking Memoir with Ray Foulk who stole Dylan from Woodstock which also led Ray to meet the Beatles .
and my publisher’s CeO Katie Isbester about the memoirs and memoir inspired books they have published.
Love, laughter and wisdom at the launch of Food of Love: cooking up a life across gender,class and race.
At the public launch of Food of Love at the Old Fire Station last night we discussed Gender, Class & Race. The panel of speakers were able to speak from decades of experience and from the heart.
Junie James of the Africa, Caribbean Cultural Initiative arrived in the UK aged 6. On her first day at school, she had her identity removed, when her teacher refused to let her be called Junie. She was renamed on the register as June. Chinta Kallie was born in Apartheid South Africa – a third class citizen after whites and coloureds but above black people. While class in the UK is not so stratified, it is still engrained in our society. The nearest thing to Apartheid, I knew of in Oxford was the Cutteslow Wall. When a council estate was built in North Oxford, the construction companies building adjacent private houses constructed a wall to isolate the estate. I interviewed Christine Ravenscroft who grew up there during WW2. She described how Canadians were stationed nearby and one of their tanks accidentally got lost and knocked it down but the Council built it up again.
Rev. Dr. Canon Charlotte Bannister Parker has brought together faith communities in Oxford with love and respect. I was overwhelmed when she said that what she took away from my memoir was ‘love’.
The event took place in the Old Fire Station – a remarkable place. It is the home to 2 organisations Crisis for homeless people and an Arts Centre that is for EVERYONE including the homeless. The café is run by Babylon Rose – a group of Syrian refugees. I concluded that with Food comes Love and with Love comes Hope. I suggested that Nuha and her team serving their cuisine would experience a sense of belonging.
Charlotte liked my invented word. Shakespeare and Donne invented over a 1000 so I invented one, ‘Communessence’. To me, it means that when you eat together you come together. Charlotte says she will use it in her next sermon in the University Church .
There was a lot of love and laughter at the first launch in my village That was the one for family, old friends and people who had contributed to the book including the CeO of Claret Press . In many ways Food of Love was crafted by Katie Isbester who edited it.
We cooked and served some of the recipes in my book .At the end of each chapter is a recipe provided by family members and friends. Starting with my mother’s scones but becoming ever more diverse reflecting the enrichment of our culture due to immigration. Behind us is the restricted diet of the fifties. Now we can taste the world and relish it. I don’t understand Little Englanders who want to box us in . Our culture is better than that . When we embrace diversity we expand our outlook and become less afraid and more optimistic.
Finally demolishing the Cutteslow wall but invisible barriers all over the country remain between Council estates and private housing . Class in bricks and mortar.
To buy copies of Oxford Castaways 2
Go to
http://www.oxfordfolio.co.uk
and click on the cover image.