Back It Up

A conversation with Thomas Slade in November 2023 about his exhibition and PHD project, Growing Up In Silence. A look at the systems and structures in place within Aotearoa / New Zealand that stem from and enabled a colonial system to operate.

Thomas Slade at Photospace: 
http://www.photospacegallery.com/blog/thomas-slade-growing-up-in-silence-2nd-december-2023-to-27-january-2024-photospace-gallery-wellington-aotearoa-new-zealand

Taryn Simon. American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar: 
https://tarynsimon.com/works/aihu/#1

Neil Pardington: https://neilpardington.com/

Conversations with New Zealand Photographers - Thomas Slade

One day I will leave this town,
I won't be back no more.
One day I will leave this town and I won't be back, no.

I'm gonna take my wife, we'll take our boys
We're gonna leave our house to fall.
Walk all winter until spring comes,
we're gonna walk while the snow falls.

One day I will.

Yeah, beside our fres we'll share our wine,
so curl up close and warm.
come lay here where you'll be mine
... and I will be yours.

songs

While The Snow Falls

Well, I didn't get far, no.
But I didn't let up, I kept pushing when my pace got slow.
Yeah, from me to the lead it was getting wide
But I didn't let up, I didn’t quit - no, at least I tried.

I was never going to win, no.
I kept on fghting even when the might in me was low.
Got a little lost as I crossed a Great Divide
And I was never going to win, no no, but at least I tried.

When I wake each m o r n I n g in my heart a humble goal
It's to be a better me on the out and the inside.

But come the e v e n I n g the good intentions in my Soul
are tired and worn, they're weary, beat and torn but at least I tried.

Triumph

I drank my wine, I had my honey
I knew deep down that I'd have to pay
It took my time, most of my money
It's taken it's toll just to live this way.

So I woke at dawn, I walked till sundown
found a hole, I lay down alone.
Tired and torn and all that I found
was it doesn't take much to make or break a home.

Everybody here knows when you've got to stop to start again
Does anybody here know when you've got to stop to start again?

Give Or Take

I am a landslide, I'm waiting to fall,
when I was younger I built a wall.
Life starts out simple, I slept safe and sound,
till I woke one morning ... and my wall fall down.

I got a little older, I needed a home
so I formed foundations from the rubble and the stone.
I made these walls stronger, strong as I could
and I woke each morning to see that my home still stood.

So, to understand why I am the man I've come to be.
Gotta dig back down through all these fallen walls, back to when
I made the walls and the walls didn't make me.

I thought I was wiser so my home's no more,
how great this castle where a humbler home before.
But the turrets are tumbling they're crumbling to the ground,
What worth my kingdom for a king without a crown?

I am a landslide, I'm waiting to fall
and I still build boundaries but I build them small.
So come the sundown all I'll be thinking of
are the ruins beneath me and the stars above.

Got to get back to when I made the walls and the walls didn't make me.

Landslide

For ten years I've been waiting
For ten years you've been gone
I heard nothing from no one
The only words I heard, walk on.

So I moved out to the country
I headed back home to my hill
But I could feel my body getting old,
just like a cup of coffee getting cold
and all the while I was just waiting until...

... but if you come back
well, come back
welcome back
I'm going to spend my days thinking up ways
To keep us on our, our rightful track ... Yeah, because

For ten years I've been waiting
For ten years you've been gone
Well, I heard nothing from no one
The only word I heard, walk on.

Ten Years

'brother' will be a companion EP for 'songs' - auditions are going well!

brother

Singing auditions for 'brother'

'songs' is now available through The Home of Happy and BMGPM!

'Inuit' artwork © The Manitoba Museum, used with kind permission.

If you like these you may also like http://www.onemileanhour.co.uk.

Thanks so much for all your ongoing support.

While The Snow Falls

the king heat ensemble

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