Becca & The Tree of Life

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Map of Wales by Paul Davies 1947-1993

    I just caught a short programme on BBC Four; the channel the idiots-that-be would like to axe in favour of something more important - sorry, commercially-based - that would induce stupefied punters to not question the status quo and merely consume: anyone read Aldous Huxley?
    Anyway the piece was from a series of shorts called Handmade In Mexico. This particular episode was The Tree of Life - The making of large fired-clay allegorical sculptures, hand-painted and representing mostly Christian scriptural stories: originally used to teach indigenous people the Christian faith. These have, like so many such things, taken on a life of their own. The artist featured in this edition tries to create a unique sculpture in this traditional way each day. Which made me think of my late friend and colleague, Paul Davies, who died tragically young twenty-seven years ago.
    Paul was a legend in his lifetime as an artist, provocateur and activist, founding the Becca Group with his brother Peter and generally proselytizing Welshness and Welsh politics with every breath he took. He also undertook the task of producing at least one map of Wales every day, small or large, in whatever medium was to hand.
    Like the Tree of Life sculptures, Pauls' maps were devotional, secular objects, the daily observance of a belief in his belonging and his cultural heritage. In Wales.
    In these strange times, the real beauty of this notion, of this activity of fixing the spirit of things, ideas and peoples in a ritual of daily devotion shines through. A simple act - a secular prayer - repeated.
    A rite of observance outwith any particular faith becomes a pure act of meditation on what is.

Comments

  1. Phil.17 June 2020 at 20:33

    Repetition and ritual comes in many forms: changing an oil filter, going to meetings, picking up around the house, washing dishes, checking the tyre pressure, backing up the computer ........
    A round of chores is not a set of difficulties to escape from so that you can get on the path. It is the path. Everyday life intrinsically provides opportunity for ritual, often without you even being aware of it.

    ReplyDelete

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