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Saturday 27 August 2011

The more things don't change, the more they don't stay the same...


This is an old picture of me playing with the model zoo that my father made me. 

   It is clear to me that I have hardly changed in the intervening decades. There's been a slight redistribution of hair follicles, the addition of glasses, a doubling of height, but that's about it. My interest in the unnatural aspects of natural history has also remained constant, weathering even the priapism of adolescence; I still go to zoos and stare at the inmates.
   And I still have most of those toy animals. Despite her cramped living conditions a friend kept them in a shoe-box for fourteen years during one of my footloose periods. Unfortunately there are a couple of pieces missing; a gibbon and an anteater (G, if you're reading this – I realise Ireland has suffered economic collapse, but before you emigrate could you check down the back of the sofa? Best of luck on both counts. S).

   To prove I haven't changed - apart from the redistribution, addition and doubling - here's a recent portrait; 


   I look very writerly - the result of a trompe-l'oeil conjured up by talented stylist/photographer Annelie Bruijn.