‘Spoken Truths’ is a solo performance that I put together, using a mix of performance poetry, art, music and movement to explore the theme of finding a way to process the pain of our broken world and get to a better place. I called it ‘Spoken Truths’ because so often the truths of what is happening seem to be unmentionable in many different contexts, and performed it in various locations.

There are six poems, each accompanied by a painting, marking the pathway through the depths of difficult emotions. The trajectory has been compared to Joanna Macy’s ‘Active Hope Spiral,’ in which there is completion with ‘seeing the world with new eyes,’ which marks a new beginning for being able to go out into the world renewed. I’ve found since creating the performance that this spiral of difficulty to renewal is something that I must do many times over; there is no final renewal.

Let My Spirit Out For A While

The image is of a woman who stands naked and exposed, with pictures of four heads that are like spirits emanating from the woman. These symbolise different aspects of the self. Around the woman are multiple pictures of distruction. The text below the image reads, “Let my spirit out for a while. I need to express my joy of being alive in this world of delights. The profoundness of my sorrow – of all that we are losing to the hands of fools. My rage at injustice so easily administered. My terror of us not doing the work we need to do, and of what happens when we truly lose everything.” This first piece of art was about all the emotions that come up when I really allow myself to feel beyond the everyday mundanity.

The piece is accompanied by this poem, ‘Tea and Sunsets’

This is what my guilt looks like

The image is of an unhealthy looking person who is constrained by chains and bars, with a ball-and-chain at the ankle. When I tune into the effect that guilt has on my body, it feels like heaviness and greyness; a caging of my heart and a sense of being controlled and constrained. The ball at the end of the chain is like a vortex, dragging my energy into it, leaving me unfree to move forward and take responsibility for what I need to do.

The piece is accompanied by this poem, ‘Ancestry’

How fast I can fall

The image in this painting is of someone standing tall with a hand at their heart. Curled up at their feet is someone very small, with their head in their hands. This painting is about the fluctuations of mental health and self-esteem. It is very striking to me that I can go careering from one mode (feeling a sense of confidence, self-worth and purpose) to another (feeling powerless, stupid and small) in a short space of time, often without realising this has happened.

The painting is accompanied by this poem, ‘To say my piece,’ which is a further exploration of mental health.

Fossil fuel addiction

The image depicts a foetus inside the belly of someone pregnant. The umbilical cord from the pregnant belly is connected to the electricity grid, via substations and pylons, all the way to a power station where fossil fuels are burnt to generate power. In our entirely fossil fuel dependent culture, even from being in the womb, we are connected to the fossil fuel matrix. I don’t see this going away with the switch to renewabls.

The poem to go with this painting is called, ‘The Bell-Shaped Curve,’ which is a further exploration of fossil fuel dependency. It was written some years ago, when people talked more about Peak Oil, and the Bell Shaped Curve was a graph to depict the rise and decline of fossil fuel usage, as it becomes more and more difficult to extract. Understandings of the complexity of Peak Oil have since developed and it seems like there are lots of other things to worry about with regards to fossil fuels, with Peak Oil no longer seeming like one of the greatest threats.

You may think you control me, but I lie in wait

This image depicts an area of tree stumps in a wasteland that was previously forrest. A sapling tree grows in the midst, with a pair of eyes looking through the branches. Humans erroneously believe that we are separate from nature and that nature can be controlled. I believe that eventually nature will take us back into the fold.

The poem to go with this piece is by the same name:

We Are Still Rising Up

The image depicts a raised fist; the symbol of power from below and solidarity between people joined in political struggle. The fist has broken through a concrete crust, and weeds are growing through the cracks around the arm of the raised fist. Birds fly around the arm. This painting completed the process of going through the pain and going forth with renewed vision.

The poem to go with this piece is called, ‘The Final Poem’