Through a lens clearly
Photograph: James Murray-White
One of the projects I’m working on at the moment, mostly in the guise of web editor and researcher, is Finding Blake. Set up by Cambridge-based film maker James Murray-White, the project is a creative exploration of the relevance of William Blake, 18th/19th-century poet, artist, radical and visionary, for us today: reimagining our present predicaments through the lens of his work.
I gave an interview recently with Sally Moss at Commonweal and she asked me about this project in connection with my own ClimateCultures site. At first sight, there might not seem much connection between William Blake and our climate crisis.
But as I said, “Blake fought against what he called ‘singular vision’ and in favour of an expanded way of perceiving the world. For him, imagination was key … But the simplistic, singular vision of reductionism is a big part of the predicament we’ve backed ourselves into.”
This Sunday sees a new gravestone unveiled at Blake’s burial site in Bunhill Fields, London (all welcome) and at Finding Blake we’ve posted a short film ahead of that event.