Wednesday 8th February, 2023
This is a lot easier to write than the vlog… It’s also easier to produce…
What I mean to say is that the vlog for January… is on the way.
Today let’s talk positive! In an attempt to dispel the dark cloud of complaints that this blog sometimes feels like, I wanna talk about some of the wonderful things in my journey as an artist: an inspiring & creative hero.
If you’ve been around for a while you’ll hear me make reference to the writer & director, Werner Herzog. The inspiration & motivation I get from this man extends beyond his work & his process, but into his life. He attempted to walk the circumference of a newly ‘unified’ Germany in order to poetically unify it, which inspired my own fascination with walking long distances. His ideas on the separation & distinction of truth & fact have embedded themselves into the core of everything I make. It’s also sparked a million arguments that I couldn’t fully articulate through. I first came across his work through Glen Hansard, who had written a song inspired by Werner’s film ‘Fitzcarraldo’. Very quickly, Werner had supplanted Glen as my creative ‘daddy’.
Let me pass on, in a quick (very quick) condensation of Werner’s imprint on me.
“Facts do not constitute Truth.”
A large part of the learning from this statement will be in your attempt to understand & articulate it in your own lives. When I say that Werner is really making the distinction between an objective truth, & a poetic truth, I do the whole concept a disservice. Reducing this philosophical separation of Truth & fact to a simple objective vs poetic idea… it kinda misses the point. I’d urge you to blurt this out at a party, or in a group of friends, & watch people freak out. :)
“We all dream, but I have the ability to articulate those dreams.”
He said something like this in a Les Blank film, which documents the making of ‘Fitzcarraldo’. Here he helped me to understand the true value of the artist & the poet. He practically gave me, an artist & a writer, a function in the world. Most artists, of all kinds, question their purpose, & their function in the world. It’s a natural thing to do in a capitalist system that highlights the productive value of work & effort… you wonder if what you do (which has very little monetary value) is really worth anything to anyone beyond yourself. When Werner told me that I was the ‘articulator of dreams’, it changed a lot.
“Read read read read read, read read read, read read. Read read read…”
This is the piece of advice that he gives out the most. Read. It’s also the piece of wisdom that I’ve neglected the most. Even as a film maker, he only watches like five films each year… but he’ll read a million & one books. He talks, quite often about the pacing of books, & how they give the reader time to think & sit with ideas. That the quality of that time makes a HUGE difference into the depth of which we can explore the philosophies, truth, beauty, & poetry of the written word. So yeah… I’ll try get back to reading more… soon… hopefully…
I’m gonna leave you with these three points. This Wednesday turned out to be a lot busier with my new creative cafe community. So glad to have a growing collection of lovely people to connect to & to each other. (if you’re free on Wednesdays, feel free to drop by Mind the Step in Dublin)
For now, I wish you a good night,
Nathan
