Memory Loop

 Sometimes when I'm thinking about projects or pieces, I get so struck by the infinite clamour of possibilities that I can't move. There are moments when the sheer monumentality of the possible - even within the paucity of resources and the constraints that I impose on myself - is so overwhelming that my mind freezes.

Sometimes, the way out of this is to go and literally throw paint/words/ink, whatever onto paper and see what emerges. Other times, I just need to walk away and get out of the house. Each of these strategies has its proper place, though there's no way of knowing what's appropriate at any given moment. On other days of course, it's starkly obvious what needs to be done - all I have to do is get it done.

This bird here is one of those. I've written about the birds before. Their story is well told. But I'm forever searching for new contexts and narratives within them. The film here is an 8mm, black and white, home cine film called, rather dramatically "Bloodsucker". It's a vampire film apparently. Doesn't really matter, it could be anything. That's the nature of memory, and here's the point.

Learning is the process of establishing new memories. Processes, events, important data, sequences, directions etc. It's a lot like cramming film or tape into your head. Gradually your head fills up and as the space fills, the film gets tangled and knotted, until your head can hold no more and the tape/film spills out around your feet, tangling and tripping you, tying you down, tethering you to the spot.

This is just one iteration of this idea, and it's open enough to allow multiple readings. Perhaps the nature and specifics of the film do matter? Maybe it could be replaced by a number of different media producing several different narratives/contexts/subtexts? 
Maybe... maybe... maybe... it all becomes horribly elliptical again after all.