It was my 29th birthday yesterday. I’ve never been a ‘bucket list’ kind of guy but somehow the prospect of being one year off thirty made me acutely aware of all the things I haven’t done. The most random things too, like “I’ve never drank sake.”
Even though this image is quite crude I really feel like it embodies a great emotional truth. This is now how I ‘picture’ personal anguish. When I look at this image I am filled with a sense of recognition. I know what that is in a split second, I know what that feels like.
I am not a particularly religious person. As a teenager I decided that I probably wasn’t going to be struck down by an unseen deity. I also realised that there was – and is – a rich relationship between religion and religious institutions and creative endeavours. I have this great aesthetic appreciation of religious art and music and narratives even though I don’t approach them with the devotion a true believer might.