A four day headache. An inhabitation? A haunting? My research trip to the National Archive, in the excellent company of Jenny Rivarola (poet and collaborator for the project) proved fascinating but also pretty devastating.
Access to the MI5 files on Felicia Browne and her friend and travelling companion Edith Bone, have brought us much closer in understanding the basis for their relationship (highly committed communist/anti-fascist activism). But it has also brought proximity to the intimate traces of a life cut short in tragic circumstances.
The above detail of a hastily written note may have been Felicia’s last. The simple F in signature caught my eye and brought to mind her wonderful line – so often now in my mind through my dialogue with her sketch books.
In my practice I need to become intimate with my subject – I try to inhabit and perform aspects of what my research uncovers. In doing so I place myself in empathetic regard. I think about Felicia’s actions and choices in the emotional equivalent of a first person narrative. My brief performance as scullion (while cleaning the floor for real) enables me to process what I have witnessed and to try to understand what is happening in my studio.
Felicia Browne spent a period of time in London, after her exposure to the rise of fascism in Germany, working as a “scullion” cleaning floors in a depot cafe. Appalled by working conditions she befriended and passionately rallied to to unionise the women at the cafe and come to their aid. She cared about their ailments and education. One girl of 15 showed a talent in art, and Felicia wished to help her.
Felicia is inhabiting my thoughts and my paintings – so that I don’t recognise these works as my own. I understand that I must let go and allow this process to take place and lead me where I need to go creatively.
I am impressed by the weight of responsibility to capture with sufficient respect and understanding something which the viewer can grasp.
