The secret gallery's blog » photographs

Between the Earth and the sky

Marianne Slevin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:34:10 +0000

I took these photographs while we were at the beach in Fanore on one of the lovely sunny days we had a couple of weeks ago. I was fascinated by this idea of a person going up into the sky attached to little more than a whizzing wheel of metal some strong thread and large sleeping bag! I am not sure what exactly it is but there is something very magical about it!

Some art in the garden

Marianne Slevin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:51:43 +0000

This are some photographs I took today in the garden of the Secret Gallery.

“Travelling forty days the roads and trails of a distant country” Mixed Media on board, haiku poems written on Travels to India and Nepal

“This Moment” Oil crayon on a concrete, rust and dried paint mould that came out of an old bucket I found while clearing out the garden to plant vegetables!

“Love, Laugh, Sing” A recycled cable holder with words written in pencil painted and varnished.

Sanitized Life and tending the fire!

Marianne Slevin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:20:09 +0000

Small pieces of earth on the kitchen floor!

Old Christmas tree, coal, wood, turf, stone, leaves and dried grass

A little bit of outside inside!

For the last few days I have been tending a glowing fire. When the Children started to play with the contents of my tinder box, I thought what a lovely idea! It is miniature pieces of the earth, and full of energy. I left the little pieces of plastic in as a sad reminder of what we are doing to the planet that supports us. Life in this part of the world has become so sanitized; living at one with nature seems very remote. I do confess to being very speedy in sweeping up this lovely mess from the kitchen floor!

A fire really is the next best thing to the hot sun, now where is that heating oil lorry!!

Making practical things more playful !

Marianne Slevin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:22:17 +0000

Our fridge-freezer had got very iced up, so this morning while taking out the melting ice I noticed that some of it had this pattern which looked very un-organic, the contrast struck me. When the children asked me why was I throwing ice out the door, I said because it was fun! So after I had flung the rest of the ice out the door, I took these photographs, smiling to myself because it was such a beautiful warm and sunny morning, and wondering would anybody notice the strange occurrence of ice outside our door on a warm day! Like when you see a car covered in a thick layer of snow when nobody else has any on their cars or even seen any near by!

Ice on a warm day!

Water, some Rose Oil and a Hand

Marianne Slevin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:45:45 +0000

The moon is reflected in a distant rock pool

Caretakers of the earth not owners

All part of the same thing

Little waterfall

This morning James set me a challenge. It was to spend one hour in the bathroom with my camera. This challenge James said was to do with the fact that we as humans like to put ourselves in places and situations where we can just go on auto pilot and hence use minimum effort, this can be good and bad. So doing this challenge forced me to do things that are different from usual. It is also my idea of bliss to spend an hour on my own in the bathroom, but I would not have thought of bringing in my camera so it was even more fun! These photographs relate to earlier interventions of mine, it was really nice to play! It is wonderful to have someone to think of interesting things to do that help you feel creative. Thank you my Muse!

Interventions on the beach at Fanore

Marianne Slevin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:01:09 +0000

Today was a lovely day, part of it involved a journey to Fanore beach. I did something that I had not done for a while, that was go for a walk on the beach on my own with my old camera, sorry no images yet, I will have get the film processed! The sand was formed into miniature sand dunes with little islands of no dunes, in these islands I wrote words, such as: Love, unity, joy, smile, laugh and Free Tibet.

I also found the piece of silk from a Foxford blanket that had been a wedding present given to my parents. I had been carrying around in my camera case for years, taking photographs of it in different situations. The pale blue piece of silk was very fragile and had come away from the rest of the blanket. I repaired the length of silk with horses hair. It reminded me of the the white silk scarves that it is traditional for Tibetan Buddhists to give when they met someone. It also reminded me of the Tibetan prayer flags also known as Wind Horses. I took some photographs of the silk going across a large rock, in places it was a bridge and in there places it was a pale blue path. It was fun to do these playful interventions again.

The last time I did an intervention on Fanore beach was 7 years ago when I stuck bamboo leaves in the sand I had written words about the surrounding area on the leaves, then waited for the sea to come in and to see what would happen the leaves; how the words would be effected by the sea and how the leaves would be dispersed and float on the in coming waves, and I documented this. I enjoy the playful, poetic, absurdity of these interventions!