David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


11 June 2020

Statu[ )es of limitation : Thou shalt have no other gods before me


As mass protests continue after the world stage killing of handcuffed Afro-American George Floyd by a white US policeman, persons and symbols of black oppression (#blacklivesmatter) are named and shamed. Publicly brought-down.



In the US, statues of Robert E Lee and Confederate generals are being removed, and today Columbus. 

 Yesterday (above) in the UK, down came the so-called philanthropist (lover of human beings) slave-trader Edward Colston. White supremacist Cecil Rhodes appears to be next. 

 In Belgium, it's the monstrous King Leopold II. 

 In Australia, Cook is under review, again.


SMH photo (2018)  
This theme of over-throw (impermanence sub-set) struck home when your correspondent first visited The Vatican, in 1984, and encountered the Sala di Costantino, the War Room ('In this sign, conquer') painted by assistants of Raphael.
   
On that ceiling is Tommaso Laureti Siciliano's mundane and naked 'The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism' of 1585. 

 It remains ] as ( a core reference.


Theatre of the Antipodes of Regard  
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 someone looks at something...
  
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