When I was little, my father used to listen to Cat Stevens among his many musical favourites. And one of the songs I used to absolutely love was “Morning has Broken“. It is a song I have always found incredibly beautiful, calming, and that has always connected me to nature and the world. My whole life, I associated this song with my father – even though he wasn’t calm, or connected to nature! But I felt it was a side of him that he would have liked to have had.
Last year, I was asked to photograph a wedding, and when I arrived at the church I was handed a program – and in it was, you guessed it, Morning has Broken – but it wasn’t by Cat Stevens at all – it was a hymn! A church hymn! Every day is a school day, but for some reason, it made it more powerful for me. I’m not a very religious person, but I do consider myself to be spiritual. I believe that all religions have something beautiful in them, and I choose to take those parts that connect to me and my soul. This hymn is one of these.
At the same time, we have a blackbird family that lives in our garden, and every day I see them hopping about, and it is like having my father with me – and this song runs through my head. When I started working in mixed media, I knew this was going to be one of the first projects I made. For me, only me. Never to sell. And this is the result. I hope it speaks to you in some way, as it has to me.
