Onwards David Bowie

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I wondered the streets of Brighton this afternoon having heard the news of Bowie’s unexpected death first thing when I woke up.

I’d been listening to him all week early on morning walks to work.

Through the lanes today, head phone in one ear, he continued playing on, and simultaneously I heard faint glimmers of him, through the other, as I passed cafes and shops all showing their respects. As I entered, I conversed with others sharing this common connection, a warmth between us.

I heard a strata of his musical styles throughout the afternoon, not knowing what was coming next. Found myself floating in a space in between my personal relationship to this artist, crossing over into the world of others each with with a unique thread and connection of their own.

Today, all crossing over, spilling, connecting, shared.

Collage - Martina Ziewe 2013

Living in complicated and insane times as these, when someone of this magnitude and significance dies it offers a sense of commonality, a dialogue and strangely in some sense a little coherence as a large majority of people at least, are all on the same page, in that we can relate to one another and appreciate this.

I liked Comedian, Simon Pegg’s comment today which you’re likely to have come across:

"If you're sad today, just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.”

I often feel like this about great artists and people I admire, grateful to have been influenced and inspired by them, and just knowing that is comforting. Truly great artists are a gift to the world. David Bowie, like to so many of us, has been a huge and significant inspiration to me.

When someone of this talent dies, that really resonates with you, it is like an off shoot of when a friend or family member dies. As they have been an ongoing familiar connection throughout your life. So many of us are sad, touched and moved today.

So again, reminded of how ridiculously short life is, especially when it comes out of the blue. I am personally, not surprised that it was not revealed to the public that he had cancer.

It seems almost fitting that he would exit the physical world in such a way, not drawing it out, but a fairly quick transformation to whatever follows.

My first experience of David Bowie, like so many of my generation (having been born in 83) was seeing him in The Labyrinth. I have watched that film at least 25 times I would estimate. Like so many films of my child hood I knew the whole script and the soundtrack off by heart. I found him strange (obviously), a real oddity, and those leggings of course. He was like no one I had seen before. But the wonderful soundtrack and his unusual way of speaking is what made the lasting impression as well as those mesmerising eyes.

Growing up, David Bowie was a name, in the background, always there. I would see him from time to time on TV, on things like Top of the Pops.

In my first year at university when I was about 19, I was with a friend, Jemma Freeman, in her halls of residence room. She is a talented guitarist (Landshapes.) She played David Bowie in the background and was clearly hugely influenced by him. I was in awe watching her play guitar and not long after we watched The Man who fell to Earth.

I knew his music and was familiar with it over the years, but not through going out of my way to hear it. Life being the organic process that it is, depending on who you come into contact with and the circles we hang out in he actually didn’t feature much for me until a lot later in very recent years in fact.

It was not until I was about to turn 30 that I was exposed in one huge seismic shift to the extent of Bowie’s legacy. It’s absolutely not cool to admit that it was through the exhibition at the V&A that this late awakening occurred for me.

But who cares, about being cool. This is my experience of how and when I came to get it. And it was great.

Like with Patti Smith, I was primed enough to be mentally prepared for his brilliance perhaps (the whole coming to artists in our own sweet time thing) This was when my own authentic connection to him happened. In a way, what happened, felt like what many people feel when they get into something as a teenager, there is often that part that becomes a little obsessed, which I certainy did whole heartedly.

My friend, Sarah and I queued for the David Bowie exhibition early one morning, a couple of days before the show was ending. It was a sold out show, so we were trying our luck. Having queued for quite some time, we were eventually offered two tickets by the man in front of us, as his friends could no longer make it. We were thrilled.

I can sincerely say it was one of the most exhilarating and incredible exhibitions I have ever been to. It revealed to me the extent of his dedication to his work and the sheer depth of his talent in one go.

Music, theatre, fashion, painting, film, mime and more. A true artist who tried his hand at everything, with no limitations. All possible avenues of creativity he could explore, he did. The exhibition itself was so well curated and deeply immersive, I was overwhelmed by his prolific nature and talent. I was captivated and enthralled seeing his evolution and development as an artist all at once. Because I hadn't followed his progress in real time it made it all the more crazy to see one mans life development in what I essentially experienced as 2 hours or so. Like going to the cinema and following the protagonist for a couple of hours, you come out and feel like you’ve just been through what they have. His amazing life was condensed into an exhibition which was huge, rich and full of wonder and endless avenues and possibilities.

I was truly inspired by his productivity and constantly evolving creative process. Sarah and I were buzzing. The final room displayed an array of his costumes on mannequins and footage of a live concert. The whole show was incredibly atmospheric. I saw his true genius at once. Something clicked in my brain and I loved every minute of this experience. This tidal wave of inspiration all at once.

After the show Sarah took this photo of me in another part of the V&A, when we were both in high spirits.

It was only when I looked back at the photo that there I recognised there is something of the Ziggy Stardust album cover about it, but this was unintentional. I must have just channeled a bit of Bowie having information overload and I love this photo as a result of that.

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Since this exhibition I’ve probably listened to Bowie every other week in one form or another.

When I am inspired by something I tend to get quite obsessed. I will research the hell out of something. If I was an actor I reckon I’d be a method actor, as I tend to fully immerse myself in it. I watched loads of interviews with him, listened to all his albums and watched documentaries. One of the things that captivated me the most was, as people are always discussing, is his chameleon nature, how he openly admitted to trying out these different characters and becoming something else.

He wasn’t afraid to try new things, constantly changing and evolving, experimenting all of the time. He said:

“I’m just an individual who doesn’t feel the need to have somebody qualify my work in a particular way. I’m working for me.”

It excited me that he played so much with his physical appearance and experimented with these different characters.

Here’s an interesting quote:

“One half of me’s putting a concept forward and the other half is trying to sort out my own emotions. And a lot of my space creations are in fact facets of me - I have now since discovered. But I wouldn’t admit even admit that to myself at the time. I would make everything a little up right personification of how I felt about things.

Ziggy would be something and it would relate to me, Major Tom and Space Oddity would be something - they’re all facets of me. I got lost at one point. I couldn’t decide whether I was writing the characters or the characters were writing me or whether we were one and the same”.

This aspect of David Bowie greatly captured my imagination and is one of the things I am most intrigued about him as an artist.

This exhibition and then my personal exploration of his work there after reignited in me, the fact that we can reinvent ourselves, over and over. That we live numerous life times in just this one. He had huge success, but he never got stuck in one era, he constantly evolved and developed and became something else during his whole life. Some artists get stuck on a loop, on their best work or hits, but David Bowie didn’t do that. He was truly engaged in his creative process, never resting on his laurels, never repeating old formulas or sticking with a style or genre in any sense.

After this I was truly inspired. Like so many his androgyny and sexuality I found interesting and intriguing. I played a little more again with the way I expressed myself through how I dressed. I was making a lot of art work at that time and made a couple of little pieces over the years inspired by him. I also allowed myself the space and time to renew looking into my own sexuality more consciously and it opened up these parts of me more allowing me to explore my identity and sexuality in new ways.

He symbolises the ability we have to create who we are as human beings, of reaching ones creative potential, of evolution and is pure inspiration.

I also love his work ethic, his sheer dedication and drive.

I could go into writing about my experiences of certain songs and what not. But there are countless avenues I could go down. There is currently so much being written about him. This is simply my appreciation for him having been alive and the personal effect he had on me as an individual.

I am forever grateful and touched by his existence in this world.

There is no one like him nor will there ever be.

As much as I felt sad today, I admire his apparantly swift exit from the world (although we don’t know the full story) - as bold and unpredictable as his creations. With gratitude and deep respect, I can only imagine the sort of crazy stuff he will go onto next.

Yes Bowie, thank you.