Saturday 8 December 2012

I Hear Those Voices That Will Not Be Drowned

In Alderburgh beach there is a sculpture by artist Maggi Hambling dedicated to composer Benjamin Britten. The words pierced into the shell, as quoted in the post title, are taken from Britten's opera Peter Grimes. I don't know much about this opera or Britten himself, but this sculpture really touches my heart. Maybe because I grew up in a family where my voice was drowned and now I have finally found my voice and the voices of others that will not be drowned. Like fellow blogger Kitty @ Brave New Kitty said in both her recent comment on this blog and on her latest post "Planting Seeds": this is important work. Writing about our experiences and joining our voices in speaking up about what we see might make the difference between somebody going insane or being validated and having hope. I know hearing the voices of others has made a difference to me. 

Photograph by Andrew Dunne, 1 November 2005

12 comments:

  1. Very powerful! I was talking to a normal sister yesterday about how the high drama/hysterical laughter/general chaos in our NFOO always made me feel like my voice couldn't be heard. And, of course, it couldn't. This is a really powerful image - thanks.

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    1. Thanks Toto, at least this is a gift we can give to each other and it costs nothing (monetary speaking) so I don't know why it was so hard for our NFOO to give it to us. Well, I sort of do know, but can't really understand it. :P

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  2. Hi Kara,
    Thanks for the shout-out! :) I truly believe it's important work we're doing. Finding your voice and "speaking your truth, even if your voice shakes" raises the consciousness of the planet. We may not be able to change the world, but we can certainly change our little corner of it.

    Love the sculpture!

    Kitty

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    1. You're welcome Kitty, your blog is really helpful to me :) xx

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  3. This was wonderful to see. Thanks Kara!

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    1. I love it too. Apparently some people think it should not be there because of the natural setting and while I generally would agree with this point, in this case the sculpture is so close to the built up sea front area that it renders the argument moot.

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  5. Love it! And a beautiful sculpture and message, too. I also enjoyed hearing what "Brave New Kitty" said - that's beautifully true, too!

    :-)

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  6. This is wonderful, love it! Thank you for sharing. xx

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