Breathtaking, isn't it?
My brilliant friends Belinda Wiltshire (artist/legend) and Mijo (model - from "Lamplight) went "out there" one night, and came with this masterpiece. When Mijo personally presented it to me in Germany as a special surprise, I shed a tear or two. I know you will find this very moving also.
The detail of the piece got me thinking - firstly, about how good I’d look with a beard, and once I'd gotten over that, about how cool it would be if you and me and everyone here made an art project together, based on "The Mijo Effect".....
Essentially, what if you just went ahead and dressed up like me from Kirsty Argyle's original "The Start of War" photo, wrote a four word poem on your chest (anything that rhymes with the sentence “The Start of War”), took a photo, and emailed it to me? If we put them all together, what would we, as a community of peeps, have to say for ourselves? And, how cool would it be to use all of that as part of the album/website artwork for the forthcoming 2010 album!....
WHAT DO YOU RECKON?!?!? YOU, ME, ON THE WEBSITE ARTWORK TOGETHER WITH OTHER PEOPLE (and hopefully Kat Macleod!)! ARE YOU IN?!?!? LETS DO IT!!?!??!....
And let’s call it: "THE START OF WAR COPYCAT PROJECT".....
And for every photograph we receive, we will gratefully donate $5 to "War Child" (www.warchild.org.au or www.warchild.org), an international volunteer-based organisation who aim to provide immediate, effective and sustainable aid to children affected by war (I will write to you and let you know that this has been done on your behalf).
Please feel free to pass this on to as many people as you like – the more we can donate, the happier I will be.....
Also, if you take part, I will make sure your name is published in the THANKYOU list on my album.....
So HERE IT IS - an official launch of The Start of War Copycat Project!!!....
FOR REFERENCE, the original photo by KIRSTY ARGYLE
*OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS....
go like this:....
1.Think of something that rhymes with The Start of War (use any rhyming word combination you like: all submissions welcome!) ....
2. Write it on your chest with paint or liquid eyeliner or whatever you like (or if you’re fancy with the photo-shop, go for it)....
3. Using "tricks of the trade", do your best to look like me/Mijo. Or not. Up to you dude: it's your artwork too. ....
4. Take a photograph of yourself (black and white best) in “costume”.....
5. Email it to thestartofwar@clarebowditch.com with the subject/title as “COPYCAT PROJECT”.....
6. In the body of the email, please include all of your personal deets (name, postal address, phone number, d.o.b.) and please tell us that we have your permission to use and muck around with it for upcoming album/online artwork. ....
*If you're stuck for an idea, think of this as a collective artwork that will explore the power of rumour and rhyme. Write whatever you want on your chest, as long as it rhymes loosely with The Start of War. What will our rhyme-trail say? You can take this as deeply or as lightly as you like: you might, for example, want to explore the notion of truth and lies, or of rumour, recalling that in our lifetime, we've personally witnessed wars begin over little more than wrongly "officialised" rumours. Or you might just want to play around with language: one notable rhyme Mijo suggested, and indeed sang several times in our enclosed tour-van around Europe, was "The Fart of War, The Fart of War (cha cha cha)". That was really something.
PPS - Check out this totally fascinating doco that Resolution Media recently made: it's called Fighting the Dragon with Luck (and we fortunately found out about because our music was used for the entire soundtrack). I will let you visit their website to learn more: www.fightingthedragonwithluck.com
....