dedicated to mary for nurturing the space around me
Revolution is many things to many people, and often it is not what it purports to be. For me it was listening to ‘My Generation’ and printing Che Guevara, my first ever screen print, onto an orange, hooped-necked, flared-sleeved T Shirt – convinced at the time, that along with my contemporaries, we alone were going to change the world. But, hey, I guess that was just the blind faith of naive youth – if only I knew now what I knew then*. And it was the same in Spain in1936 - the Second Republic had paved the way with sweeping laws such as the legalisation of divorce and abortion, something of a revolution in itself, given it’s time in history, and it’s preceeding culture. And then in February of that year, a coalition of various left wing & anarchist parties including union groups, known as the Popular Front, was formed to defeat the National Front, and became the new government in that years election – and with it came true revolution, led by the working classes. But all this was short-lived. Driven by the wave of fascism sweeping through Europe, and following a military coup five months later, nationalist forces led by Mola in the North and Franco in the South, effectively sparked what was to become the Spanish Civil War, and opened up the doors for the tyranny that followed. Prompted by the distinct lack of intervention from any European governments other than the Soviet Union, the war drew a swathe of idealistic individuals from across Europe and America, to fight for the cause – the former, becoming known as the International Brigade. Amongst it’s throng was George Orwell, an ardent socialist with romantic ideas of revolution - ostensibly travelling as a journalist, he very quickly became part of the militia, fighting alongside the people’s army, whilst at the same time documenting all that he saw, for what was to become Homage to Catalonia Homage to Homage to Catalonia is a word and image poem drawing on George Orwell’s writing, and my own personal experiences retracing some of his footsteps, whilst at the same time trying to find what lies at the heart and soul of Catalonia – a country of passion, democracy and under-stated revolution.
*to misquote ‘I’m Open’ by Pearl Jam
La revolució representa moltes coses per molta gent, I sovint no és el que representa. Per mi va ser quan vaig escoltar “la meva generació” i vaig imprimir el Che Guevara en una samarreta taronja – estava convençut aleshores, que juntament amb els meus contemporanis, podriem canviar el mon. Però, bé, suposo que només era una fè cega de una juventut naïf. – si sabés ara el que sabia aleshores.* I va passar el mateix a España al 1936 – La Segona Republica havia pavimentat el camí amb lleis extraordinàries com la legalització del divorci i l’abortament, cosa de per sí revolucionaria, tenint en compte el context històric i l’època i el fet de ser un país catòlic. I aleshores, al Febrer d’aquell any, es va formar una coalició de varis partits d’esquerres, unionistes i anarquistes, coneguts com el “Front Popular” que es va formar per derrotar el “Front Nacional”. El Front Popular va a passar a ser el nou govern en les eleccions d’aquell any – I amb ell va arrivar la revolució real, liderada per les classes obreres. Però tot això va durar poc ja que el Feixisme va arrasar Europa. 5 mesos més tard hi va haver un Cop Militar i les forces nacionals liderades per Mola al nord i Franco al Sud varen porar la Guerra Civil i varen obrir les portes a la tirania que vindria després. Cap govern europeu va intervener, només l’Unió Soviètica, però la Guerra va atraure individus idealistes de tot Europa i Amèrica per combatre per la causa – el que es va conèixer com a la Brigada Internacional. Entre ells George Orwell, un socialista apassionat d’idees romàntiques sobre la Revolució que viatjant com a periodista, rapidament es va unir a la milicia, lluitant amb l’èxercit del poble, mentre que al mateix temps documentava tot el que veia per després escriure “Homage to Catalonia”. Aquest homanatge a l’Homenatge a Catalunya és un poema de paraules i imatges inspirit en l’escritura de Orwell, I les meves experi´ncies personals en la meva recerca sobre ell – mentre que al mateix temps busco trobar el que hi ha al cor I l’anima de Ctalaunya – un Paeis de passió, democràcia i una revolució tranquila.
*t‘I’m Open’ : Pearl Jam
Red and yellow, tool of man The innocence of youth Betrayed by dogma, raw and biting The adversary of truth
with special thanks to Marian Masoliver for her translation and the great hospitality that she and Simon Edwards gave at The Actors Space Marià Dinarés and Mia Go from Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de Vic for their welcoming support The Castellers de Vic for letting me into their world Matthew Tree, Victor Sunol, Toni Coromines for their enlightenment Lluis Solà for his unique poetry reading Bonventura Anson for letting me into his studio