In this 5th day of contributions from GANTOB correspondents, JR reflects on the power of coincidence. JR finds connections between GANTOB’s work and his wife’s treatment. Thank you JR for sharing your experiences and for your deep reflection on all things GANTOB.
My wife, H, and me deliberately mispronounce “coincidence” as “Koh–Inky-Denki”. The phrase “never underestimate the power of Koh-Inky-Denki” is often used.
In August I saw GANTOB’s pamphlet 8 and entered the Kompetition. My question involved art, money, sickness, memory and comfort. It was answered with a quote from Anthony Gormley in GANTOB’s book. I enjoyed the book but my eye drifted off GANTOB’s literary ball. I missed the blog, until an unexpected package containing 3 pamphlets associated with death, prediction and Krossing arrived. Subjects at the forefront of our minds. Koh-Inky-Denki? One pamphlet pointed me at the blog. I am now up to date.
GANTOB initially moved on from the letter “K” fixation, but it returns in later blog posts. The Benefaktor makes a point on the +ve and -ve duality of the word “sanction” and suggests “sanktion” should be used as the +ve connotation. I struggle to find a positive connotation for cancer, but I’m sick of seeing and hearing it and henceforth am adopting “kanker”. I thought this would be a personal neologism but it is actually the Dutch spelling. Koh-Inky-Denki?
H has pankreatik kanker. Stage 4, inoperable, terminal. A clinical trial involving a cocktail of chemotherapy drugs (including 5FU as used by The Benefaktor, Koh-Inky-Denki) keeps her alive but there are days when she gets tired and just sits looking at the garden or the TV.
H is a minister’s daughter, her early life was peripatetic. Her formative years were spent in Newcastle. She retains a great fondness for the North East. I anticipated GANTOB’s response in the Kompetition. I went to the North East and spent a month’s pension on a 6×3 foot steel sculpture of the Angel of The North. I installed it in our garden for H to look at on her quiet days.
Gormley’s work is narcissistic, focussed on his body, but it invites us to consider both the human form and the human condition. H’s condition is poor, but she has Faith, our AOTN brings her Komfort.
I will supplicate to anything, real or imagined that might help H. GANTOB rightly says we cannot avoid loss* but I had a fever dream where I appealed to The Ancients of Mu-Mu for the interstellar ley line to be rerouted through our AOTN to bring healing. Can Angels of Mu-Mu be justified? Sculpture often lasts beyond an artist’s first death** but can it postpone one?
JR, 5 December 2023
Footnotes:
* Pamphlet X13 Paint Them Black
**Pamphlet X12 Who Died Last, which references Banksy et al.
Each of the intrepid explorers of the GANTOBverse have provided 400 words about the characters introduced in the first GANTOB book (published September 2023) and this blog. In return they will be sent a kopy of the book of this blog (planned for publikation 23 January 2024). Each household can provide up to three blogs. You can still provide a kontribution, as long as you have an excuse for late submission.
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