SEVEN THINGS I WANTED TO TELL BILL…
Posted by Sue Hill on February 26, 2019 in Sura Medura
There would almost always be a time when we shared how our day had been, no matter where in the world he and I were, or how far apart. What did you see that gave you wonder? Did you hear something that made you sad? Someone who made you angry? Did you find beauty? I’m pretty good with solitude, but the lack of this daily witnessing of one another’s doings and beings is the saddest gap in my life. It’s especially sharp when the days are full of such strangeness, awe, shock and pity as they are here in Sri Lanka. So much to share.
So. Here are seven things I have wanted to tell Bill…
Baby turtles on the beach at night! And their tiny fin-prints crisscrossing the sand in the morning, marking their tracks to the sea. There are huge efforts made to save as many of these little mites as possible. Locals used to harvest the eggs and eat them or sell them. Now the conservation project buys them for three times the market price, reburies them in protected sand and watches them when they hatch to make sure as many as possible make it to the sea.
Remember how much we loved a big mosquito net?
Check out the architecture of Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lankan architect, proponent of Tropical Modernism (http://www.geoffreybawa.com/) His work has inspired our beautiful workspace, Sura Medura.
Remember how you got caught in a rip at Godrevy and I thought you were waving (there was a seal) not drowning. The rips here are super-strong. So I’m admiring the waves from the beach and walking to the babies’ beach, sheltered by a reef, to swim. And waiting for the new swimming pool to be completed at Sura Medura (see G. Bawa, above)!
Sexy fruit. Mangosteen! Such a great word and delicious too. Little, sweet, white, bite-able bums…
The imagery in the Buddhist temple on the lagoon is strange and beautiful beyond all expectations. Luminous colours, surreal, puzzling, painted scenes, and a hundred life-size figures depicting the horrors of a sinful life (toothy blue demons, dismembered babies, pits of fire). I think I need to study the paintings, there are clues for my project…
I’m up to my knees in mud again. Happy. The two spare boats, made after the Tsunami, when the fishing fleet was being rebuilt, were full of mud, slime, rainwater, gravel, mangrove seedlings and little creatures. I have re-homed the lot into the lagoon (with the exception of the mangroves, which are being lovingly tended by Jonny and Pippa, two of my fellow artists).
Bill, my best beloved, I miss you every day. I think you would have loved it here…