libertà corsica.

I was in Corsica in November 2017 for a conference. I retain very few memories of the conference itself.

Getting away from where I was supposed to be, exploring the Corsican landscape, having long conversations with the local people about their history, their language and their culture made a lasting impression on me. I don’t remember ever visiting a place which was so visually exciting and stirred such strong emotions.

Extraordinary beauty, vibrant autumn colours, warmth of summer one day, biting cold rain and winter atmosphere the next, deep contrasts between darkness and light, signs of violent struggle for freedom tagged on the walls and in the silence of people when I asked the wrong question contrasting with the incredibly generous hospitality of others.

Rather than concentrate on my presentation, I escaped to go for a walk up to the Capitole of Corte.

Every few feet, I was stopped in my tracks.

The sound of the river flowing in the valley bottom.

A cinema billboard announcing a Hollywood blockbuster next to an ancient tree.

The winding path cut into the rocky hillside which led up to the Capitole.

A traffic sign indicating that I was on the road to Calvary.

The rays of sunlight which lit up the path, as I climbed higher, gave the walk a quasi mystical signifcance.

Five years on, I still return to that walk, that time, you can find a few of the many images drawn and painted from that trip in the Further afield collection.

I have many stories that I wanted to tell which remain untold for the moment.

These few lines are just an introduction.

Libertà Corsica!