War Anthem (Max Richter Woolf Works) 2024
Graphite ink and Naples Yellow 116 x 76 cms
War Anthem (from Mrs Dalloway Woolf Works by Max Richter)
My drawings are a response to music. War Anthem is from an ongoing series of drawings made whilst listening to Max Richter’s music for Woolf Works, a ballet in three acts, which takes the life and writing of Virginia Woolf as its theme. I am exploring the way that the different elements interact – predominantly sound, but also words and dance – making dozens of drawings in response to the unfolding of the sound and its progression. The first act begins with a spine-tingling recording of Virginia Woolf talking about words. War Anthem is from this first act and centres around the character of Septimus, a shell-shocked veteran in the novel, Mrs Dalloway. Richter describes War Anthem as ‘a mini De Profundus’. This piece is sonorous and mellifluous and you hear the solemn tolling of Big Ben. My process is contemplative and immersive and the markmaking is repetitive reacting to the tempo of the music as it is constantly replayed. My research also included a re-reading of the novels Mrs Dalloway and The Waves as well as biographical writing about Virginia Woolf.
fiona robinson 