Voices Of The Old Sea

I have been a fan of travel writing for some time, in particular Paul Theroux (I think it is where I got the travel bug from), and have just finished a second reading of 'Voices Of The Old Sea' by Norman Lewis.

It was about a time in Spain after the war when life was simpler, although not necessarily easier. The residents of the remote villages of Farol and Sort, in what is now the Costa Brava (apparently - although I can‘t find them on any map.), struggling to survive with a way of life that hadn't really changed for decades, perhaps hundreds of years.

We tend to reflect that every era was golden. The golden years of the twenties, thirties, forties etc. but it's all too easy to forget the not-so-good times. The daily struggles and trials that people suffered.

Lewis captured a time of hardship and grudging change, as the first tourists began to descend on this area, losing it's supposed innocence to a wider world. Over the period of three summers Lewis visited these villages and documented with loving care the lives of the local fishermen and their families.

While reading, I visualised the locale as it changed before my eyes, and wished that somehow it had stayed cut off from the world.

I wish I could have been there to see it with him.

Sadly, Norman Lewis died a few years ago, but I look forward to reliving some adventures with him again in the future.

It reminds me of Cadaques somewhat, an area I will hopefully be visiting in June on my way up to Hamburg for my next exhibition. I always get inspiration from seeing Dali’s spiritual home place. The Emporda Triangle is calling…..