“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
This book is a series of new essays I’ve written since writing my first book of essays Mothers Love. I am at the editing stage now and have 191 essays to choose from and Mothers Love had 105 essays. My friend Sean Cordeiro thought this book should have been in chapters but I thought about it and realized it would be better with out chapters but each essay in chronological order that I wrote them.
However, before I go on with the preface, I want to apologise for some mistakes I made in Mothers Love. Firstly, I had an essay called Lebs are Cool which was disrespectful and it should have been Lebanese are Cool. One of my favourite writers is the Lebanese writer Khalil Gibran and his spiritual book The Prophet.
“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”
Khalil Gibran
I also realised as much as Patch Adams helped me with his many letters of support but realised that he said that there is no such thing as mental illness and says that people with a mental illness should come off their meds over six months. I now realise that I don’t agree and feel meds are very important for those with a mental illness.
Also, Patch says that most doctors and nurses are rude and I don’t agree as I haven’t met one rude doctor or nurse in Australia and I have met many and they are all so kind. He also says only three percent of people have self esteem but I disagree and I think most people enjoy their lives and have lots of self-esteem.
However, Patch taught me a lot about gratitude in his two books he sent me and his many letters and was very generous with his time.
“At the age of 18, I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into an endless sea of gratitude from which I’ve never emerged.”
Patch Adams
However, I do agree with Patch that the health care system in America needs reform and would be amazing if it took a leaf out of Australia’s book and that there would be free health care for everyone.
In Mothers Love some of the photos weren’t cropped properly.
Also, some of the time while writing Mothers Love I was quite unwell mentally so there was, some factual errors and in writing some of the essays my mind was completely all over the shop.
New features in Am I Going in Circles? Are much more photos of staged dress up shoots of me in my art particularly shots by Yannick Soyez my support worker through the amazing NDIS or National Disability Support Scheme. Also lots more photos of my art over the past thirty years of art making.
There shall be more attempts of humour to make the sometimes-challenging topics more palatable for all the readers.
Since Mothers Love publishing, I have had lots of art exhibitions both in Australia and internationally including six solo shows in Australia.
I made two international trips while writing this book in both Europe and New York including my first international studio residency at Mother Ship in Brooklyn. I wrote some of the essays abroad in Am I Going in Circles?
Now an explanation of the title: Am I Going in Circles? It’s good to have some self-doubt to push you harder to think rethink everything and see all the different angles.
I think this idea comes out of Edward De Bonos idea of lateral thinking.
“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.”
Edward de Bono
In this book there is more of a balance of male and female role models such as Malala Yousafzai, Condoleezza Rice and Mary MacKillop.
“Never see a need without doing something about it.”
Mary MacKillop
Also, I shouldn’t have had a photo of me in India on a bicycle without a helmet and since then I always wore a helmet not to avoid a fine but for safety reasons.
In conclusion I feel that this book is a big improvement on my first book: Mothers Love and I am just starting to find my feet as a writer. My next solo show will be called: I am a mixture of a naughty teenager and a grandmother. In the show a big drawing will say: Trying to be Zen Not Flustered. I was Trying to be my own Mum. Now I am Trying to be my own Grandmother. And one Day my own Great Grandmother.
