Farewell Action II

Images as part of the Craig Y Nos series. Photo Credit: Jo Sutton

Farewell Craig Y Nos

The simple farewell action at first takes place at Adelina’s fairytale summerhouse situated on the grounds. Vibrant green ribbon is wrapped across the main entrance and around the pillars. In my green dress I begin to make markings with chalk across the grey wooden shutters. Home sweet home. Home sweet home. This is Adelina’s summerhouse. This is Adelina’s summerhouse. ADELINA WAS HERE. ADELINA WAS HERE. The Nightingale. The Queen of Hearts.

By now the large grey shutters were covered in these declarations of Adelina’s presence. A reclamation of her space.

I gather the green ribbon and trail it behind me. My followers consist of Jo, a blonde lady and her beautiful small brunette child. The ribbon and the people trail behind me. Up the windy path towards the castle.

At the foot of the castle are two white billy goat statues. Weathered by time, these originals would have greeted Adelina’s guests on their arrival. One of these sad looking creatures would be my transport home. I mount the white animal, and create a makeshift rein with the green ribbon. With I click of my heel I hope to leap over the valley below and across the mountains. He doesn’t move. He is old and shabby and unloved. No wonder.

I wrap the ribbon around him. Decorate him. The green connects him with the luscious trees below. I then give him a huge farewell kiss.

Farewell Craig Y Nos.

The Patti Theatre

My audience applaud after my rendition of Calon Lân. I reluctantly sang on Adelina’s stage. For a moment as the strangers clapped and cheered I felt like the Victorian superstar.

The audience were invited to participate in a sound piece. Each person was asked to climb on stage with me, kneel by my side at the alter facing the painted stage curtain of Adelina in La Sonambula. A marriage takes place. A ceremony between myself, the stranger and Adelina.

I ask the stranger to quote Adelina, who on hearing her own voice recorded for the first time exclaimed that she now understood why she was loved.

Room AB35

The ornate closet in room AB35 has four doors and twenty drawers. Each closet door is embellished with wooden roses and has a pane of glass with lilac velvet plumes pressed beneath it. It’s a grand piece of furniture that dominates the room. It’s particularly the type of closet that belongs in a castle.

I begin work. Emerald green Indian ink, light green crayons, leafy green biro and rich green ribbon are my tools for the job. Paper at the ready I start to take a rubbing of Adelina Patti’s elaborate and swirling signature crest. Over the last few days I have spotted them on fireplaces, on walls, one on the bridge to the estate and this wooden one down the corridor from my room. Green crayon in hand the rubbing is a success. The rubbing is hung by coat hanger and hung on the closet. A portrait of Adelina in green biro is placed on the glass of the closet. More drawings all in vivid green are added to the exhibition.

Visitors arrive. The first couple to enter my room are American. “You remind me of my daughter. She loves to do art, and once you’re in the throws of it you’re like an artistic Einstein. I can see that in you.” Im embarrassed but offer them tea. They decline. The wife wants pictures of me. I play Adelina’s original recordings from my laptop. This is my way of reclaiming the castle for Madam Patti.

An hour or two later, two women and a girl arrive. They take my offer of tea as they have travelled far in the rain to get here. The blonde lady sits on my bed and relaxes. Betsy, a quiet brunette girl of about four sits on the floor. Her mother is wearing a beautiful Edwardian style jacket, which makes her seem like part of this place. We chat about Adelina and listen to her sing. We then set off on a tour of the castle. I take them to the theatre, the breakfast room and the drawing room each time retelling the history of the site.

As I begin to finish up and change there is a rat tat tat at the door. A couple from Cheshire who are searching their family history have come to hear my stories of Adelina. They are descendents of the Niccolini family. I show them my drawings and offer them a lend of my books so they can make notes. I play Mr. and Mrs McDonald some of Adelina’s songs. Earl grey and chats followed, and we arrange to meet up at the Patti bar in the evening before they leave.

The room is empty. My green dress is removed.

The door to Room AB35 is closed.

Polished Wishes

One by one I picked the shiny coins from the bottom of the murky wishing pond. I scooped the shrapnel in my green dress, which was now soaked through. Some coins had been there for such a long time that they had left perfect imprints. This made it hard to tell if Id collected them all. Once satisfied that I had done this I climbed out of the pond water and onto the small oriental bridge.

New British coins don’t weather well. They were less shiny than other people’s older wishes. They must have changed the metal. I began to scrub up each one. Make them shiny, in the hope that if they could catch the light better they would be brighter dreams.

£8.20 worth of wishes had been collected, scrubbed and put into groups of matching coinage. There was also one American Dollar and an African 5c.

As I threw each wish back into the water I thought of Adelina and of her home, and the wishes I have for that space. I wished for the blessing of this project. I wished that all the original dreams that sunk with these coins would come true.

Home Sweet Home

Sunday Morning: 5am

The drizzly rain softly hits my face and body as I embrace the clock tower. The drunk dancers have gone. The silence I had longed for last night is with me. I am free to play. My legs and arms cling to the stone surface. I kiss and caress the building. My velvety green dress is soaked and clings to me like a second skin. Like a moss covered stone I grip the castle.

The porter is watching me in the fountain. I climb the ornate, gold fishes to have a kiss with the embellished gold heron. We embrace. I kiss all four gold fishes on their cold gold lips.

Two stone lions flank the main entrance. I share a long embrace with both. A kiss on their stony mane follows the cwtch.

Finally, I kneel at the Castles main entrance. Arms sprawled so that they nearly reach both side of the doorway. My face rests on the cold, wet marble. I close my eyes and meditatively contemplate this building. Caressing the steps. I part the building with three extra kisses for each step.

The castle is now blessed.