Thursday, March 16, 2006

The spirit of a waif,by the wall





"Ragged and standing (the image of a waif)"


Photo by Cliff Ash.
This version is different from the one that was finally used on the cover.


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was the DESIRE graffiti already there on the wall when you shot or did you paint it on purpose ?
(that word sounds / is beautiful both in English and French ---- Désir)

Spaewaif said...

Yes,babylab.It is a beautiful word indeed.And if you look at its etymology,even more!
It comes from the phrase 'de sidere' "from the stars".

DESIRE

Anonymous said...

thanks spaewaif it does sound even more beautiful...

The working title of Woody Allen's best (IMO) film "Annie Hall" was "A Roller Coaster Named Desire". Gotta love Woody (and Marlon Brando) !
;-)

cheers!

Anonymous said...

babylab... can you please photocopy your birth certificate and email it to me please.i just want to check you're really french!!! ;-)

Anonymous said...

I really am !

Proof #1 : I ate Frog thighs once --- they had no taste.

Proof # 2 : I know who is Johnny Hallyday.

;-)

Anonymous said...

babylab...
i was living in crouch end by early 1983,a nice little village area of north london.i'd wander the streets at night,my own version of psychogeography.just drifting.often dressed as i am in the photos from the camouflage heart cover.two pieces of graffiti had tickled me,spotted just over crouch hill into finsbury park,both anarchist slogans that had an impact on me for some reason.the first was "can't think must buy",the second "nothing is true,everything is permitted".i've always been fascinated by political graffiti.as a child,visiting london,i'd seen the brilliant feminist slogan "if they can put one man on the moon,why can't they put them all there?", it's been a source of inspiration ever since... drifting through the streets of north london in the wee sma' hoors,i realised i wanted to capture something of that mood for camouflage heart.i found a lane and sprayed the word that summed up the album for me, "dESIRE".
it summed up everything for me at the time.it still does.

(1994)
touchedRAW KISSEDsour started out life as an idea for writing poetically hybridised words on walls around london.random poetry invading your thoughts as you go to work...

in san francisco,1998,there was a brilliant fly poster assault by graffiti artists,called "seismic solution".it was a playful resistance to the gentrification of the city during the dotcom boom that mischieviously invoked an earthquake,to lay waste to capitalisms destruction of the community.

cindytalk's "seismic solution" parts 1 and 2 were recorded as tribute to this excellent renegade action.

Anonymous said...

Await what the stars will bring...thank you for that. Very beautiful. I did my moonlight wandering around the remains of a Victorian seaside town while listening to Camouflage Heart on a walkman. Skrying the fragments. As for graffiti, here's one from an empty billboard in Liverpool: "Coming soon - more lies".

Anonymous said...

it's worth checking out the pictures on walls site.flick through it,there are some gems.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the memories Cindy.
Interestingly (?) I remember reading good reviews of a movie called The Graffiti Artist lately... Haven't seen it myself though so I can't say if it is indeed worth seeing...

Anonymous said...

hello babylab,glad you are enjoying spaewaif's nicely crafted blogspace.i'm not a huge fan of nostalgia,i've always preferred to look forward but i'm happy to recall some of these moments whilst my memory allows me to ;-P

Anonymous said...

hmmm it doesn't appear to me as nostalgia (which I don't like much either) but rather as a way to express different perspectives and ideas about cindytalk...
:-)

PS : Spaewaif rules!

xtakecarex

Anonymous said...

and Plastic Orcadian is a master for crafting some damn funny messages !
;-p

Anonymous said...

Is the cross to the right of the word desire a fortunate happening or intentional, it perhaps being related to Evrybody Is Christ?

Anonymous said...

the "cross" was intentionally spray painted at the same time as desire was written.it was a very primitive version
of a "tag",a signature.it was often used in a more upright position and resembled the croix de lorraine which was a
symbol used by both jeanne d'arc,when repelling the english from france and also by the free french in the second world war,therefore signifying resistance.

Anonymous said...

if you look at the touched cd release of "in this world",you'll see a more obvious version of the same "tag",used underneath the label name and address.also,in the original in this world "calligraphy" the t's tended to be written with a double bar.the croix de lorraine comes originally from the double bar crucifix but i was hinting at the idea of resistance and not religion.there was no deliberate connection to "everybody is christ",which was a fairly irreligious song.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting and I see the double bar on In This World. BUT. You misunderstood my question, you took it to be an intelligent question - you should know better. The cross I refer to is a very conventional crucifix, it's horizontal being a shadow caused by an overhang on the top of the wall and it's vertical being created by a shadow or maybe an offset in the wall. Less interesting perhaps but very striking in it's own simple way.

Anonymous said...

apologies for the misunderstanding.it hadn't occurred to me that the shadows to right of the photo looked like a cross,if it had and i'd thought that it drew any allusions to "everybody is christ" i would probably have chosen another version of the image to use.

Anonymous said...

Having accidently broken the cover I will move on. 90's goth band IKON do a track called Camouflage Heart on their Flowers For The Gathering album. Any connection or just a coincidence. Not a likely title to pluck out of the air, my guess is they are influenced by cindytalk and the lyric below plus the track titles on the album strengthen this.

Camouflage Heart by IKON

This emptiness is it what I've chosen
The feeling of death fill me like a curse
It seems so strange but somehow quite familiar
Familiar and cold and totally isolated

If I love you
Will you stay
If I hate you
How can I live with the pain
If I love you
Will you stay
If I hate you
How can I live this way

You've put yourself in this time you will suffer
Turned me away how can I return
Is this the price the price for believing
You pushed me away how can I go on

Anonymous said...

i'm really not sure whether to laugh or cry at this comment but i'd sooner not discuss why you think those horrible lyrics strengthen a link to cindytalk.shudder.

Anonymous said...

Laugh OR Cry, either way It'll End In Tears

Anonymous said...

Muppet!!!