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Writer's pictureHenrietta

Gormley at the RA

I found the Anthony Gormley exhibition at the RA in Piccadilly amazing and totally thought provoking.


The room with the figures standing or hanging from all the walls and ceilings could have been depicting my friends standing in the countries they live in; hanging from the ceiling was those in Australia or New Zealand, at right angels on the walls were those in LA or Malaysia. Simplistic but really made me think. Plus these figures were inside the room and we all stand on the outside of the planet.


But the thing that really got me more than anything was a few lines written in one of Gormleys' notebooks, hidden amongst all the others in a glass cabinet :


I sit with the mouth I speak with

My head is a turning knob

My head is a root

My body thinks

My head wills

My head is full of things

My body is a beautiful world

My head rules it

My body sends me fine feelings

My head turns to the things around

My head is full of holes

My body has one or two

[For comings and goings of a physical sort]

But somehow my body feels

It's only there to get my head where the foot is



Those last couple of lines. We treat our bodies as a form of transport. Gosh.


And as if that's not enough, what is it saying about our heads - "My head is full of holes". I totally know that feeling but have never thought of it like that


The Gormley is on at the Royal Academy of Art in Piccadilly until December 3rd - next Tuesday - which isn't very much time to go if you haven't already. I don't think I've been as affected so much by anything I've seen for years.





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