Rule Number One

Sarah Read

January 2023

New year, new beginning. This year though it seems harder to regroup, with many of us feeling stretched and scattered. When the headlines are so awful it is challenging to focus on an art practice, or to see the point of doing so.

As ever, when all else fails I turn to text.

Years ago, Howard Zinn wrote a staggeringly beautiful essay about how to stay hopeful and engaged in dark times, and it continues to inspire me:

"We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people’s thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.

“Human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness… If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

“To live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvellous victory.”

I revisit Lucy Neal’s Playing for Time – making art as if the world mattered, a compendium of projects by radical, committed and far-seeing artists, and find resonance again in Dougie Strang’s essay, Singing in a Dark Time:

“Making art helps us to face loss and grief and uncertainty….In a time like this, it is necessary to still create beauty, to still find joy.”

So here’s to singing in the dark, making our work and yes finding our joy in 2023.

Rule Number One daily reminders are available for no charge, on a lucky dip basis. If you, or an artist you know, could do with a new year boost, contact Sarah at sarah.read@xtra.co.nz or message @sarahreadnz to go into the draw.

Texts:

• The Optimism of Uncertainty, Howard Zinn, 2004

• Playing for Time – making art as if the world mattered, Lucy Neal, Oberon Books Ltd, London, 2015