Empty Chairs.
Yesterday my friend Nicola Davies asked if she could read something to me. I said yes. I love it when she calls and reads to me. I still remember the first time I heard her read The Promise. I was sitting in the kitchen in her house in Abergavenny. I cried. So beautiful. It won the New York Times picture book of the year award last year. And Perfect, coming soon from Graffeg. Such a powerful book.
She read me a story called The Day War Came.
Then she sent it to Emily Drabble at The Guardian.
Emily asked if I had a picture to go with it. I didn’t. And I am busy. So many deadlines. But the image that came to mind was a simple child’s chair. An empty chair. I painted it, sent it to Emily and she published it online.
Now there seems to be a movement of illustrators painting empty chairs. The story is powerful. A beautiful piece of art inspired by desperate circumstances. Not satire. But a creative protest. As are the empty chairs.
Please help us get a movement spreading. We want #3000 chairs. One for every child denied entry to the UK by our government. Have a look at Nicola’s Blog post for where to send or simply use #3000chairs.
I wonder how many of those who voted to deny these children entry into Britain also voted to bomb Syria?
The power of art and poetry. I love that this is a nascent movement. In a similar vein, I want to share with you a piece written by my husband about the “Necessary Uselessness of Poetry.” He wrote it in response to one of our local government officials stating that poetry was a “pre-Wal-Mart major” and therefore, useless. http://www.eriereader.com/article/the-necessary-uselessness-of-poetry
Creative protest. Made my heart sing watching it build momentum today from a question to a few to the many and hopefully to the many more and that it might just make a difference for those children.
And not just painting… Use your creativity and your medium of choice. Mine is stitched.
Is there a particular place that the empty chair pictures can be posted? Thanks x
Have a read here: http://nicola-davies.com/blog/wp-admin/http:/nicola-davies.com/blog/?p=661