Soil Letter from Ania - September 2008

Ania’s soil letter has arrived!

It looks like any normal letter but once it’s opened, I discovered how tidy it is! Ania sent me two tiny plastic bags. One of the polish soil, the other contains the Isle Of Wight’s beach sand. But what I liked most was the card in the letter. It wasn’t a normal card, it was a part of one of Ania’s artworks as I can guess.

What does it mean to be an artist?
(Please answer and pin the card to the board)

Seriously, it is quite a big question! I spent few hours thinking about the answer, yes, I did and I am still! The question sounds simple but the answer could be as simple as the question is or could be as complicated as our life is. What I am sure about is that every person would answer this interesting question based on his beliefs and views about his/her definition of ‘art’.

I don’t remember if I mentioned this before but I believe that we (people) who give the meaning of a ‘place’. The place is just a place but we create its meaning based on our experiences and feelings towards this place. Now Ania’s letter led me to realize a very simple fact about letters: we could also give meanings to the letters we receive based on our experiences. Of course, I would not be that much happy if I received this ‘artistic’ card along with the electricity bill! Anyway Ania, I will answer the question one day and pin the card to my board!

Soil Letters from Hanadi - July 2008

Hanadi’s second soil letter arrived. Another envelop full of soil reached one of my temporary locations. I got the letter just after coming back from the Basque Country and on the way to Poland. Opened it to have a look, but decided to keep it in the envelope as Welsh soil looks surprisingly similar to Syrian although I know that Hanadi claims that they are very very different. It started getting tricky not to mix all the collected and received samples.

I am in my hometown for summer, and getting ready to get the samples of the soil by my parents’ home. I keep waiting for the right time. I keep looking for the right spot.

collecting soil from cardiff, June - 2008

This soil is not only from Cardiff, it was collected from the small park which is just next to the Art school that has been my main destination for two years! (By the way, this park includes few tombs placed in a very beautiful way)

It was a sunny day but the weather was hot and cold together I don’t know how! Anyway, the ground looked very hard but the moment I touched it, it turned smooth and offered me some good soil :-)

I grabbed two portions and put them in two different bags, one to be taken with me after two days to Toronto / Canada and be placed there. While the other one is to be sent to Ania at her current place in the Isle of Wight.

Soil Letter 1- April,2008

It was a short meeting with Ania just before she left Cardiff. Of course it was at the train station!

Short but very useful!! I think both of us became more excited about the project after that meeting. We were supposed to have coffee but my feeling that we didn’t have much time to talk made me forget everything about the coffee. Next time Ania!

Ania was leaving next morning to Poland (Warsaw) and would spend only few days there but it was a good chance for both of us as I can send Ania the Syrian soil to place it in Poland while Ania can collect some Polish soil and bring it with her to the UK.

However, I came back home, got some soil from the original Syrian soil bag and put it in another bag to be put later in the post envelope. The process of moving the soil, packing it and then writing a different address to where it will be sent allowed some strange feelings to emerge. I still don’t know what these feelings exactly are but they could be around the lines that nobody knows what his / her fate can be! Nobody can ever guess where he / she will live or die..

Next morning, I went to the post office to send the “Soil letter” –Thanks Ania for this interesting name!- and was surprised by knowing that there is no express mail between the UK and Poland. The post officer said that the letter might take 4-5 days to arrive. Anyway, it was worth sending it and give it a try.

Luckily enough, Ania received the letter during the last hours of her stay and was able to do the task.