Memento vivere is here until 18th September 2025
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Welcome to Project Rattloch: Week 12.
The second weekend of the Memento Vivere art exhibition has been absolutely amazing, overwhelming, heartwarming, and full of beautiful conversations.
I had a funny incident that comes to mind…I don’t normally share or do things in perfect order, but this is what happened. On Sunday, I was travelling down on the train to London to set up and unlock the crypt, and I forgot the key. I had left it in my coat, which was at my in-laws’ house. I panicked, but I told myself it would be okay and tried to keep a calm mind.
I knew there was a spare key at the church, but they were in the middle of a service. With about 40 people waiting outside to get into my exhibition, I had to go and reassure them I was just getting the key, which was totally out of my comfort zone. I knew deep down that if I stressed out more, it would just make everything worse. So, I kept my composure, reassured them, and waited outside the church. I did a little prayer to God and laughed to myself because I’m not religious, but I am spiritual. Soon after, I saw the verger in the service. I got his attention as he was walking along doing the donations, waved to him, and he came out. He gave me the spare key, and I triumphantly walked towards the guests waiting to get in the Crypt. I waved the key and said, "I've got it!" Everyone cheered, it was a massive sense of relief. I unlocked the crypt and let everyone in, and it was lovely to see so many people piling in.
That was the start of Sunday, a great start despit the hiccup, and it continued throughout the whole day. We had people and tourists coming in from all over the world, as there was an open day at the church, which attracted a lot of attention too. We had to cancel the meditation session on Sunday. It was supposed to be between 12p.m. and 1p.m., and there were five people booked on to it, but the lady who was doing the meditation was sick that morning. I had to email everyone as soon as I knew, as I didn’t have any phone numbers to message them. One lady turned up late for the meditation and was quite rude. I took it on the chin because she said she hadn't checked her email and also that she didn't want to travel all that way for ‘just an art exhibition’, but still wanted to come for the meditation. She did had a look around, I just dusted it off because I understood she was stressed from delays on the train.
On the positive side, a couple who knew the meditation was cancelled came along anyway, and we had a lovely conversation. I realised how much I say I don't like chatting to people, but if I talk to someone who's quite engaging and extroverted and they allow space for me to talk, I have the best conversations because they can carry it. The couple were really lovely; they bought an art print, and the woman said she would promote my exhibition to everyone she knew. It made me realise that I'm not the type of person to shout about what I'm doing, but there are others who are like evangelists for me. One of them is my best friend, Lee, who I mentioned before, and this lady was happy to go and tell other people.
I also met someone who gave me feedback, saying he found a few of the art pieces hilarious, like the Leo di Caprio meme and the Netflix meme. I realised how much that resonates with people because everyone is online all the time these days, but when you take that context, paint it on canvas, and put it into an art exhibition, it feels different.
Some people came in and just had a quick look around and didn't want to take a catalogue. It made me realise that when people look at my art, it's absolutely impersonal. I used to get upset if people didn't like it or weren't interested. It's totally subjective. I had a conversation on Saturday—sorry to flip around, but that's how my brain works—with my artist friend Rachel Melody and her friend Sarah, who came along as a nice surprise. We were having a conversation about how praise is quite fickle. Sarah, who works in ballet, was talking about a friend who was a "golden boy" and had a lot of success with his choreography. When he tried something different, it wasn't liked. It's true that you shouldn't hold your worth to other people's opinions. We all know that, but it is so true. You just need to focus on the art itself.
Also on Saturday, a nice couple, slightly older than me, came to the meditation session that was also cancelled. It was lovely chatting with them as they bought an art print and the last copy of my signed book. It was lovely getting to know them, and again, they said they would tell other people. I think these kinds of conversations are so underrated and undervalued. As an artist, I like creating on my own, and it's quite a solitary thing, with the occasional mural painting outside. I tend to switch off to my surroundings. But then there's a thing about building relationships—not in a forced way, like networking, but just having nice conversations with people about art, life, and everything. I realised these are important because people get to know me as an artist and will hopefully follow what I do. You never know when someone is going to find work for you in the future or share your exhibitions. It's so, so important.
On Sunday, two of my close friends also turned up, and it was lovely to see them. It was nice to see them experience my art and see a different side to me, I guess. That was really nice, and I got some good feedback from them. I realise I'm flitting between days, but it was a bit of a blur. Overall, we had about 80 people turn up each day. It was a constant flow of people; I even had to let people in last minute after I'd closed the doors. People still wanted to come in, so we had to overrun quite a bit on both days, which was fine. It was lovely to have people eager to enter the gallery.
I just wanted to add one more thing. On the second day, we were locking up and I locked the door, but there were two people still inside. We apologised, and they were waiting on the steps while we were trying to unlock the door, but we couldn't! It was slightly funny, but I also felt a bit panicky that we had locked everyone in. They were very understanding, though, and one of the ladies passed the key to her husband outside, who managed to unlock the door, and we all cheered. So, lesson learned: don't lock the crypt from the inside. I guess it’s rarely ever been locked from the inside, so it's a bit "squiffy" in that respect.
I'm really happy with how things went. During the week, a couple of students helped staff the event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day, and they said they had about 20 walk-ins within those two hours, which was really nice to see. We still have four days left; it's was open today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and on Tuesday and Wednesday during the same hours, and then on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for a closing evening.
I’m excited to see what happens this week, I’ll keep you posted next Monday.
For now, farewell.
Best wishes,
Previous Project Rattloch posts:
Congrats! It all sounds and looks really awesome so far and even the stressful parts become interesting stories to tell... Enjoy the last few days. :)
Exhibitions are hard work keep up the good work