I've decided to start writing a bit more on my blog, I think it might add some substance to my photography. I hope you don't find my ramblings too boring!
I took these shots in Richmond-Upon-Thames today. It was beyond surreal being back by the riverside after nearly four years! Four years! I still can't get my head round it! When I was 17 years old and attending a college in nearby Twickenham I spent most of my time here, writing my novel, Freegan Freedom. It feels like a different life now. The book explored the relationships between a group of dissimilar Londoners living in an abandoned building brought together by fate and connected through shared anti-materialistic and communitarian ethos. It was here I thought up the misfits; Rufus, Sunlyn, Kal-Chi, Jax. Of course Sebastian. And Ez. It was here I jotted down the beginnnings of a narrative, inspired by the view and the very different people who would pass on by. The friends I made and the friends I lost. Simion the Rasta, Betty the artist, Jon the adventurer. It feels like a dream now.
So much has happened since. pottery and BSL, meeting C! Those long and beautiful walks with strangers! Those fleeting connections, apocalyptic landscapes, that peace. Jammin' with the warrior kids of Kings Avenue in Brixton and eating with those resilient upright men and women of St Mary's. Goldsmiths, the projects, the art shows and photography! Becoming a real Muslim! Breaking away from my nomad past, the flitters! The mountains of Damascus and deserts of Arabia. All those failures. And successes. I changed and changed again, a million times over! So much has happened since 17.
Yet today, in Richmond, everything was the same! Same cold, same vacancy, same benches, and sky and river. The same ole' lads building boats, same birds and swans. Same bridge.... I don't know, it's weird. It makes me want to do things again. Live. I just hope I can get through the next few months, keep my head down and nose clean and get through university with a decent degree. Its strange, being back there sure as heck does make me wonder whats round the corner, because I never would have believed I'd be here, where I am now. On a different note, today I met a lovely lady named Mythili!
