I.

‘Life is like this: a memory happens—and then there are no more memories.  Just one memory.  I remember one thing.  Everything else is attached to this one memory—additions—horrible limbs stitched onto the original thing until a Frankenstein lives in my head.  Until there’s nothing but the flashing of pins and the growing monstrosity.  Yellowed eyes—fingers blackened by rot.

And what about a memory?  What about the way a memory can unfold and unfold until there is nothing outside of it?  What about the one memory that changes an entire life?  How does that memory work?  How do the present and the future get sucked down into the past—until there is only one moment.  Unending.  Impenetrable even to breath.  Memories that slide in between moments—expand and break the rhythm.  Memories interrupt the rhythm.  What about a memory?  What about a memory that changes an entire life—that makes a life what it is.  I remember and remember and remember.

Life is like this: a memory happens once.  Just one memory.  I remember one thing.  Day after day I remember one thing.  And what about a day?  What about one day that changes an entire life?  How does a day like that work?  What about the days that I turn over and over in my mind until they’re burnished—polished and gleaming.  What about the days that I hold so close to my heart that even blood has to fight for space.  The days when nothing happened and everything changed.  The days when everything happened and everything changed and I couldn’t do anything but stand up—stand back in wonder.  What about a day?  There are days like this.  Days that come winging in from somewhere else—from some other life.  Days that become a part of my life.  Force themselves in.  These days are my life.  These days are my memory.  I hold them so tight that they warp from the pressure.  I remember and remember and remember.’

Philippa’s films are not to be overshadowed by her photography. Her short film; Gubi – The Birth of Fruit premiered at The Brooklyn International Film Festival 2008, and went on to be screened at numerous festivals worldwide, notably the Durban International Film Festival 2008, FESPACO 2009, and the Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2009. Her one minute visual art film, ‘Speaking in Tongues’ was screened at The Beijing Art Museum in 2008 and The International Film Festival Rotterdam 2010.

She’s also just completed her music video for Just-A-Band’s – ‘Room for Me’ which was a German/Kenya music collaboration.

She is currently working towards her first narrative feature film, ‘Two Princes’.  Production is set for 2012, the film will be shot largely on the Islamic island of Lamu.

philippa

1. Living creatively is….loving, observing, putting your ego on the line because you follow your heart, dancing, making love, singing, drawing, expressing and always doing what you love whenever you can.

2. Define yourself…..i am always changing, always evolving, I am serious, funny and loving and I am good at hiding one or more of these things

3. On your work….my work is me, and i am my work. through my work i search for myself. i somehow believe that through my work i will find answers to some certain questions that plague me

4. On happiness… happiness is release. happiness is living here. to me at the moment, i would say happiness or joy is life without anxiety or worry, or fear

5. On Art…. art is you and you are art. oh and art is not pompous or condescending. art is life, and life is art and art is accessible to anybody and everybody, and anybody can make art – so long as they are true to their heart.

6. Rules you live by…. go when you are invited, pray, exercise, sing, listen to your heart, and do not have fear – if danger comes to you i am sure your fight or flight will kick in. i.e. you are prepared always.

7. This morning i woke up and thought…. thank you god for what i have, and then i thought: ”gee whiz, you mean i have to get up now, and go for a 1 hr 30 min run?”

working hard

8. I’m influenced by…. matisse, rumi, egon schiele, klimt, hundertwasser, tinga tinga art, kwesi abbesetts, chuck close, leonard cohen, forough farrokhzad, jeff buckley, the cure, jonathan safran foer, nuri bilge ceylan, billy holiday, picasso

9. Responsibility is… responsibility is doing things you don’t always want to do, responsibility is thinking long term, and that means knowing your long term goals, and acting in accordance which means sometimes doing things you would rather not do like wake up early or work or save money et cetera  responsibility is taking full culpability for your actions – knowing why you do things, taking responsibility for it and not doing certain things because you are AWARE about the harm it may to yourself and/ or others

 10. Ten People I’d like to ask these questions to: (Absolutely anyone, dead or alive)…jeff buckley, barack obama, xavier naidoo, fatih akin, nur bilge ceylan, ingmar bergman, gil scot heron, billy holiday, nina simone and rumi

Philippa’s music video for Just-A-Band:

Watch her film GUBI – THE BIRTH OF FRUIT here: 

You can catch Philippa here:

Blogs:

http://onethirstyfish.tumblr.com/
http://thewarmthofyourcheek.tumblr.com/
http://wordsthatmoveme.tumblr.com/
http://ideasofothers.tumblr.com/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/ONETHIRSTYFISH

i claim to need nothing.but i need you

That said, here are the first few days:

words falling on deaf earbling

lightbulb moments

wealth

we are not alone

steve syd

addyprim

romarypersonalvision

So, this is my welcome note..to my Berlin adventures. I wasn’t sure what my first post would be. I had so much to say about Berlin prostitutes, bike riding, markets and Berlin in general..art openings, looking for and finding a bike and the bike was too big and my landlady ….then I realized this is the intro..this is the Berlin is page. but before I get onto that, I wanna give a shout out to my friend thatsexactlywhatiwasthinking for letting me visit and share about things I’m going through in this crazy city. She has a few guidelines, told me I can’t blog about cats, or dogs or even the birds tweeting outside my window at this moment…basically no animals. Only serious things. And I agree, I’m only going to discuss serious things on this blog, like who killed tupac, biggie and osama bin laden??? And is there a connection???? But no really, this is actually about my Berlin adventures. A city I just got to. And I’m madly in love with and may be madly in love with me. How do I know this??? I don’t, but there’s something about being here that suits me, or I suit it, it’s hard to place, maybe I’ll feel this way in other cities around the world, but until then I can firmly say me and Berlin, we gotta a thing going on….Sooo, knowing that and wanting to take my friends along on the journey, this is where we’ll intersect. This is Berlin via thatsexactlywhatiwasthinking

…courtesy of a character named Liongold

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1.Living creatively is….enjoying life rather than enduring it. also for me it is beading, singing, writing, loving, talking and laughing

2. Define yourself….I’m an oxymoronic klutz who is always busy becoming my best self

3. On your work….my work is a therapeutic expression/extension of myself. I write my own songs and they come mostly from my own experiences.

4. On happiness…happiness is clarity of mind and peace of soul. it is also to be found in rainy days

5. On Art…art is how we express the God we are

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6. Rules you live by….stay true to self, spend my time doing/being things I love, be honest with others about who I am, have no bounds, worship nothing and no-one, always learn, be brave

7. This morning i woke up and thought….what am I gonna do today?

8. I’m influenced by….the unbreakable strength of my late maternal grandmother, the calm wisdom of my maternal grandfather and my mother’s perfect balance of both her parent’s traits. other than that I’m influenced by all kinds of creativity and people: my sisters, my friends, other artists, words, songs, music, love, pain, movies, fashion etc.

9. Responsibility is…authentically living on purpose

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10. 10 People I’d like to ask these questions to: (Absolutely anyone, dead or alive)

Toni Morrison, Thandiswa Mazwai, Bob Marley, Sade, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mariama Ba, Winnie Mandela, Nkensani Nkosi, Amel Larrieux, Mbongeni Ngema

Watch Nosipho do her thing here:

images courtesy of Mimi Cherono Ng’ok