And when the girl was brought to the king he took her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, “Now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die.” The Brothers Grimm, Rumpelstiltskin

A week residency at Aldeburgh Look Out had all the wonder and terror of a fairytale. It had no kitchen, bathroom or bed and at the end of a week I had to produce a show. A girl in a tower with a hard floor. So I set her tasks.

I would go on a walk lasting from sunrise to sunset with no food and allow my self to follow my nose and on another day I would spend a day in the tower in the tradition of a captive in a fairy story and see what I made.

The resulting work was a series of Self Portraits from the tower and totems that I met on a walk as the ingredients for a fairy story. I used these to generate tales with the puplic who passed by and shared some extraordinary and magical tales.

I also produced a seaside sign of text from Joseph Conrads Lord Jim. I was at midlife and he beautifully articulates the contrast of middle age with youth.