François Matarasso

The tone and focus of this blog has changed as uncertainties have crowded round me. I don’t know if it’s for the better—that might be clearer if A Selfless Art is ever finished—but it’s honest. I’ve just completed my last contract and find myself, for the first time since 1986, without work. Perhaps, at 65, I’m being retired by a world with no further use for me. It’s not a light thought, though the truth is that I’ve turned down work. I’m lying fallow. They used to call it bed-rest, but that’s gone out of fashion. Still, wounded animals know to find a safe place to rest and heal. There are things I must do, tiresome official and administrative things, for which I cannot find the motivation. There are things I want to do—writing, and renewing the co-creative work I love most. Again, for now, there’s no energy. I am braced for what’s to come and watching the clouds pass.