How is it that Morrissey relates to my practice? He does, I promise!
During the word map task, I was finally able to identify how it is that Morrissey connects to my wider interests. I have listened to Morrissey pretty much every day since I was about 14 just because I love his melancholia and romanticism. Interested in his awareness of the struggles of youth culture and being brought up in a working class society, his narratives seem critical, yet sensitive to the restricted ways of living and the struggles he personally has witnessed.
While a possibly overdrawn connection, I feel that I have made sense of why I like Morrissey's lyrics as they draw parallels with my interests in social history and working class cultures. He seems to celebrate the authenticity and nostalgia of these ways of living, echoing the tone of voice of many documentary photographers I have seen.
The issue of gentrification has driven me to appreciate the values of working class traditions and restricted lifestyles, evident in my concern with British folk cultures and children's books.
I found this footage of Morrissey discussing his youth. While my practice does not directly draw from the lyricism of Morrissey, I am very much interested in his criticism of society and observations of working class living.
Morrissey describes seeing his childhood home demolished as 'having one's childhood wiped away'. Gentrification seems to have the power of destroying stories and the value of community. I am interested in the way illustration and wider visual media can work to promote a celebration of lost worlds through nostalgic, social history narratives.
He also demonstrates the community operating within working class 1960/70s manchester; 'my grandmother occupied the fourth house, we occupied the fifth house, and the sixth house was occupied by my mother's sister and her family. So it was a very strong community, it was very tight, very solid and also quite happy'. Demonstrated here is an unquestionable sense of community within working class cultures, living and socialising within the constraints of the home and valuing what is within reach. This restricted way of living seems to be the driving force behind British traditions such as brass bands and morris dancing as these activities were devised by working class communities for working class communities. It is interesting to see how Morrissey's narratives are informed by a very real way of living.
Morrissey goes on to discuss the working class communities of Manchester as 'laughably simplistic but perfect fuel'. I am really excited by nostalgia and the values attainted by more restricted lifestyles. I think one of the reasons I am so intrigued by children's books is their place in even the most primitive and restricted childhood, they are essentially a toy and a learning tool pivotal to children's development and I think the outlet of children's illustration could be my opportunity to capture the values of community based living. Story telling as an exercise seems to keep communities alive and so I would like my work to be concerned with story telling as my way of celebrating heritage.
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