'The Sands of Time'

Proposal For: 'stencil graffiti' @
"Independent Arts"-Festival No. 16 - Saturday 10 April 2004 @ O.J.C. Kompas vzw - Driekoningenstraat 48 - 9100 Sint-Niklaas – Belgium.

'The Sands of Time'

Joint Project by Jacob & Peter Bright

I have fond memories of performing live @ the 3rd mail-art festival (1990) @ OJC Clichee in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium as ‘This Window’. Meeting other participants and performers made MailArt real and concrete. People who I had written to and who had supported my ‘Art’ suddenly had real faces. Our identities had been exposed and our secret society was out in the open. MailArt had a showcase. [1]

'stencil graffiti' The Sands of Time 'stencil graffiti'

Around 1990 the history of Europe changed. Germany was reunified, undoing the division of the Post Second World War scenario. Even radically minded Germans were unsure whether the country could be reunified, due to the polarity of each society…rich/poor, capitalist/communist etc. The German labor market became enlarged and fears of unemployment became a more serious political issue.

Communism was crumbling, forced into retreat by capitalism.

However Iraq was the new dictatorship, the new evil capitalist enemy.

Here we are 13 years later on. Europe is becoming larger with former socialist countries coming into the fold. The UK has allied itself, even more closely, with the USA, my countrymen’s blood stains the desert sands of Iraq. Nothing has changed.

History helps to predict the future. Hitler failed to create his Empire in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s for several reasons. He fought his war on too many fronts…..his resources became stretched. This was a factor in his demise.

History is about to repeat itself. Capitalism is fighting the ‘Axis of Evil’….The battle has too many fronts and too many invisible enemies. Is this the end of capitalism? Are the sands of time running out for the USA?

(Does expressing my fears, for my children, make me a threat and a possible dissident? By publishing my thoughts and Art am I putting myself at risk? Is that why several artists have closed down their web sites? Are we really fighting for democracy?)

This is a joint project between Peter Bright and his son Jacob.

Whilst performing live @ the 3rd mail-art festival (1990) @ OJC Clichee in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, Jacob's mother (Veronica Henry) was in France, waiting the impending arrival of Jacob.

This project is also about the passing of my time and how through my children I can see enthusiasm and hope for the future.

These images were drawn onto A4 pieces of paper then scanned into a computer running Windows 98, then manipulated and edited using Signlab. The finished version was drawn onto paper using a Camm-1 Plotter and stuck onto card. The image was then cut by hand using a scalpel. The image was conceived in Woolacombe.