hello again!!

my my what a week!! i’m beginning writing this in bed listening to dodie, exhausted and fulfilled, after a trip to jodrell bank.

jodrell bank was so beautiful.

ever since i was a child, i have found outer space and everything about it so terrifying. when i was younger, i tried to avoid looking at the night’s sky and the stars, because i didn’t like being aware of the vastness, and feeling so small and far away.

it’s only been in the last year or so, since knowing my girlfriend izzy and her family, that i’ve really been able to turn this fear into awe and amazement.

in primary school i read about the expansion of the universe and how right now it’s always expanding, and it will keep expanding until it stops and shrinks back like a balloon. i read this and thought that the shrinking must be imminent, maybe it would happen tomorrow. from then on, every time the wind blew clouds across the sky faster than usual, i thought that was it, the universe was shrinking, and it was the end. black holes instilled a similar kind of fear in me, one where any kind of mention of them left me feeling sick and panicked.

but whenever izzy and her brother isaac talked about space, there was never any kind of fear involved. even when they were talking about black holes!! there was only fascination and excitement. i didn’t understand!!

but at jodrell bank yesterday i really understood. the curiosity and the exploring and the observations. the history of humans forever making contraptions to see the universe and understand the stars – from constellations to stone circles to telescopes like the many being used at jodrell bank.

When we stood underneath the incredible lovell telescope – looking up at this thing that, for the past 50 years, has been gathering information from further away than i could ever imagine, i could feel the excitement of the scientists on the path to creating this. everything falling into place as they managed to get the resources to create this incredible instrument, changing our understanding of the universe and our home.

we came on this trip to jodrell bank because both izzy and our friend mel are doing a really cool project about it for their uni course, but i don’t think any of us fully imagined what we would take from it!!

jodrell bank is such and amazing place not only for its scientific investigations, but also for how it shows the integral and beautiful ways that science and art work together. currently, it has on the most incredible, immersive and interactive exhibition, all about the beginnings of jodrell bank and the discoveries it has and still is enabling to be made. as part of the exhibition, the contours of our galaxy are projected onto the original mirrors from the telescope’s reflecting surface that were installed in the 1950s. you can see the texture of the metal and the patchwork of the repairs, and it’s just such an amazing use for them. i was blown away by the exhibition and its display, and i couldn’t recommend visiting enough.

i wasn’t intending this post to be all about jodrell bank, but it just brought all of these thoughts and feeling about science and space right out of me!!

on friday it was the gdi conference on “palestine & social justice: decolonisation and development studies”. this is the event we have been working towards with the installation ‘no future at this table’. in the installation a young palestinian girl, constructed of cardboard, sits at a table, which is empty except for a dish of bread in the middle. visitors are encouraged to sit with her and listen to an audio piece, reflecting on the cost of violence and displacement.

me, izzy, and our friend adam, have been working on this with a group of volunteers since september, and it has been a privilege to work on this with some amazing creative people on this. being around such immense connections to space this weekend really puts things into perspective, especially that of why, when we are surrounded by such beauty and amazement, anybody would choose violence, greed, and any of these things that have led to the current genocide in Gaza, and wars around the world.

being a part of this project has acted as way of processing current events and dealing with what is happening in the world, meeting up multiple times a week to work on the puppet and finding hope in each other and the project. the organiser of the project is hoping to be able to take it on tour in some way, but until then, i’m really going to miss the weekly space that it has provided. working on this project, as well as the herds over the summer, makes me feel so incredibly lucky that i get to be involved in these kinds of things, and how art projects are such empowering things that everybody should get chance to be a part of.

this week has been very busy, with much making and spending time with my friends and family. i started and finished so many things, here are a few of them:

i’ve had a lovely day today, resting and getting up to bits and bobs around the house. a very cosy rainy day!!

thank you for reading, i’ll see you next time!!

All the best,
freya :D