The Gossips

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• Whatever we see, read, hear our brain filters out from the myriad of information available and creates our 'own take' from it all. We could learn more of ourselves by examining our take...impossible...but maybe may learn more of others. There can never be the 'correct interpretation' of anything....and history shows that. Learning about context can of course give us more "facts" about who or what has been created. But we can never learn "the truth" Ultimately is our own interpretation....well, that's my take on it all!!! Some people voted for Trump and Boris... and I wonder how much facts can alter their perception? We travel our roads in parallel paths that may intersect here and there. I was recently overjoyed to catch a discourse by an expert on a painting at the National Gallery. It provided me with new information, enabling me to see more, and I wished I had studied History of Art! Of course it brings more to life but, in the end, it's our view of any "facts".

• Connecting. It's a way of trying to not feel alone. And the more familiar we are and apparently in agreement with our gossipers the more we feel part of a club, a community, less afraid of having to stand alone. There are different ways people connect. Some gossip less but are excellent at blogs and inspire thought. This creates real quality sharing opportunities. Gossip can also be quite excluding of those not in the gossip ring and downputting of the one gossiped about.....and so make the gossipers feel better. From you I have learned gossip less, create within a place for quiet place for thought.

• So I'm not sure exactly what I have going on here either.

  One thing is the meaningless chit chat that is the invaluable social skill known commonly as gossip. I.e the words and phrases that oil the wheels of that discourse.

  The other is the notion expressed by Truman Capote "All literature is gossip." I aim to explore that one further by looking at two roles of language - language to get things done in the world, and language to reflect on experience and feeling.

  The other thing going on in my mind is the exercise of "reading" an image. By giving the characters words it's a take on our ability to understand the context. With the Rockwell for example - if we knew the date on the newspaper we might be able to construct an historical take on the conversation. That would reveal our knowledge of what was happening, and being reported on, in WW2 as well as an appreciation of how that information was mediated by casual conversation. I was thinking about how our view of historical events is made up of all the conversations we have with each other or overhear via the media.

  And any excuse to include Bert Hardy photographs. So evocative of time and place and people.

  And then there's the pure fun of imagining the marginalia of medieval manuscripts showing monks in the stocks for - presumably - fornication.

• Well, you have a very specific theme, though you don't say why or comment, yourself. Looking at the selections of mostly visual arts, there are those described by the artists as "gossip". The others are subject to interpretation. Do we assume that the conversations depicted are all just gossip? The final piece, entitled War News, is a mysterious inclusion to me. I would like for you to say something about your theme, unless the point is to leave us to leap to our own conclusions - just as what often happens with gossip! -- Elizabeth