THE ARTIST _ JESSICA DUFF
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
How strange to read
my Website after all these years. What a journey it
has been. The Earth Walk cards are now all over the world and I get
many messages from people saying how much they have helped and how
awesome they are. I have given them to my long term friend Sarah Brett
who is about to reproduce them as we ran out of copies years ago. I
have never stopped using them and still have my original dog eared
pack. From the amount of recent contact with other users it seems
that
they are needed again and Sarah believes they are now ready for
rebirth. Mostly though I have painted stories given to me from
the
land. This has given me both a great life and one of sickness because
as much as the energies and ancestors of this great land ask me to
paint the stories I seem unable to protect myself against the things I
paint out. I am still here
though!
I just completed a work with Kimberley
photographer Ben Broadwith. I walked into some country North of
Kununurra with Ben and instead of the land asking me to paint a picture
I walked into a whole story. The journey to paint it has been amazing
and Ben and I have made it into a book which you will find here for
sale along with my paintings and his photography.
The following is
an intro I intended to put into the book but then Ben
and I decided the book was not about him or I but about the land so I
never did put it in. I add it here as information for you:
I want to start this
story with, ‘And it came to pass,’ or, ‘Once
upon
a time,’ because most of the time I feel so old, so not in this
time,
so not part of the way things are today that a modern way of trying to
express my art doesn’t feel right. I spend hours watching
the hazy
movement of energy swirling around me, listening and absorbing the
whisperings of ancient spirits in my ears. The paintings I paint are
something I come across in a way that seems random. I don’t think
about
it too much but a friend Jimmy Lewis explained his song writing to me
once by saying, “I don’t write them Jessie, I walk into
them and there
they are.” I liked that because it removed the ego and was just
how I
felt about my art. I am walking in the bush and I walk into a picture
and feel the vibrations as they whisper, “Paint me,” and I
am filled
with the story. I just happen to be there at the time, as it is for
Jimmy Lewis when the vibrations say ‘sing me’, or
to Ben Broadwith,
’photograph me.’ Certainly we all have one thing in common;
we stop to
listen to the whisperings of an ancient time. It’s in the trees
and in
the earth and in the rocks and here in the Kimberley there seem to be
many ancient spirits waiting for someone to come by and find their
stories.
Yet here I sit, in
a modern society, working a machine that defies all
the laws of balance known to the ancients. A machine that challenges
every natural law of nature, whose components are undoubtedly
responsible for wiping out the habitats and lives of other creatures
sharing this planet. My actions feel, at the least,
hypocritical as I
check my phone, drive my car, use my washing machine, switch on my
lights and a million other things in daily life that are slowly killing
this planet. I try; I really do, to be aware of this earth and the
damage I cause. In truth I am no less guilty than anyone else. I live
as simply as I can without being as miserable as hell and I practice
every day getting in touch with the small pin point of light within my
heart and say to myself, ‘come from there Jes in everything you
do
today, come from there….’ I try - I stuff up - I try again
and so my
life goes along.
My name is Jessica
Duff and I was born in a small sea side village in
South England. I am possibly quite crazy, rather eccentric or from some
alien planet that got rid of me for being ‘wayward.’ I know
this
because I keep asking them to come and get me and they never do.
I am no prophet or
‘chosen one.’ I am no different from anyone else. I
choose to listen to ancient laws that are available for anyone to hear.
Please presume whatever you wish about my sanity and credibility, I
don’t give a toss because I know myself and that is all I find
necessary. I have seen, heard and listened to energy for as long
as I
remember. My childhood in the small coastal town of West Wittering in
south England was pages full of poetry and songs about the earth and
creatures, (and of course lonely moors and unrequited love). I
painted
and wrote my own alchemy cards which I use to uncover the truth of our
hidden side. I have travelled widely and I have loved many
times. My
forever love who travelled time to be with me chose not to stay and I
thought ‘suicide?’ and the ancients said, ‘We have a
job for you.’
Touch and go - the fact I know that if we don’t do what we are
meant to
do in this life we get to come back and do it again caused me to
hesitate.
My incredible
friends who I went to say ‘goodbye’ to, had horror
reactions. In my world the greatest lie we tell ourselves is that
other people’s lives are in any way ‘our business.
“Of course it is”
they say, “We love you.” Whatever the reason they were hell
bent on
keeping me here and so here I am. Enough about me, none of this is
about me, this is a story about the book and how it came about.
Many years ago I
was living in a little town in the middle of the
Kimberley called Halls Creek. I had been gold prospecting and living
with Mark Rose and I became very sick with Ross River Virus. I remember
the night it hit we were camping in Osmond Valley and I had a series of
nightmares like no others and seriously shat my way through the 3 days
we were there. Then came the pain! Two years of absolute hell which I
won’t go into, poor Mark is all I can say! A lovely old black
fella
called Sandy Cox, since diseased, but still helping, said to me,
“paint
the dots my girl, paint the dots and you will heal, paint the dots and
you will heal us all.” I was given canvas and paint and did a
painting,
simple as that, I painted, I forgot, I healed and I have been painting
ever since. I paint for people who have lost beloved animals, I paint
to heal the earth and I paint to make people smile. I painted the
alchemy cards based on ancient writings from the 14th century and
indigenous journeys. I painted a series of pictures on the Kimberley
massacres to heal up the gaps in the song lines, (which I have
dedicated to Sandy Cox and Kerry Anne Cox (Jinky), Stanley’s
granddaughter), and I paint peoples stories as I see and feel them.
At my saddest time
when I sat hour after hour, day after day, week
after week on my friend Sarah Brett’s balcony, smoking dope and
cigarettes, crying like I was back in menopause and waiting for aliens
to come and beam me up, a friend, (thank you Kym Shepard), turned up
and insisted I go to look at some very ancient and spectacular land.
The rock art there stays in my head to this day, it is about birth and
life and I went back alone to absorb the images and feelings around me
and knew I had not just walked into a painting but an entire story was
laid before me asking to be painted for the world to see. This was
undoubtedly a job I was being asked to do and I began to trust again in
my journey on this earth.
At this time I met
the lovely Ben Broadwith and we walked into the land
together. Ben is a Kimberley photographer and I have had the
privaledge of watching him work. I love his work but most of all I love
how he feels the land. He understands and works with the vibrations.
I moved to an old shop in
Wyndham Port, put a bed in the back and began
to paint. I would wake at random, 1am, 2am, or 3am always having been
dragged so my feet were on the floor at the end of the bed. I never
felt it happen I would just know it was time to get up and
paint….up
and paint. One night I woke up with the loudest words in my head,
“you
are painting to take a message to the world….someone will help
you…..”
And so
‘Ancient Whisperings’ was born. In my paintings Ben is the
one
you see walking the branches of the grand old Boab with the rainbow
snake. She is whispering her thoughts to him. We are a good
combination, I see the images and Ben hears the words.
The paintings in
this book are dedicated to all my friends and
supporters who believed in me. There are seriously too many of
you…Allan Symes has been a friend and patron of my work from day
one.
He has recently fixed my car and Jane McFarlane has just registered
that car, Gerald Mills got a loan and gave me the car and comes to the
studio and feeds me when I forget to eat as well as spending hours of
his time helping me. Sarah Brett worries about me and gave me a room in
both her houses, whenever I need them - forever. She is currently
reproducing my alchemy cards though her site ‘Spirit of the
Boabs.’
Erna and Martin Jarvis give me holiday breaks in their beautiful Darwin
house which is where I write this, sitting in my downstairs
self-contained room, looking out over the pool feeling so incredibly
cared for and luxurious. I am family here as I am at Sarah’s as I
am at
Gerald’s and as I am at Alan’s.
When I chose to go back to Wyndham to
paint it was a whole community that welcomed me back and looked out for
me. Paul and Norma Cavanaugh paid my rent on the shop, Freddy Mills put
up curtain rails and mended gaps, Kymbo Shepard drove from Kununurra to
help me paint, Chris Shaw and Desanka Mijovic gave me old tables and
household items, Di and Ian Oliver gave me a bed, Sue French gave me
$2,000, Chris Shaw made me 12 large canvases, Bec and Cali Bugg from
Artopia Gallery in Kununurra supported me to the hilt as did Penny
Haley from Penny’s Prints. The lovely Ben Broadwith became my
friend
and understood me. He actually ‘Got me’ and my connections
without ever
uttering the words. Mick Warner became my friend with no intent to
change me, judge me, question me or alter my path in any way. He spends
endless hours playing chess with me and loves me for exactly who I am
which can be challenging at the best of times. Thankyou Gill Egan
for
making me my beautiful easels and Terry Bin-Buss for giving me some
glasses so I could see the canvases. Rosco and Jum bring me plates of
yummy local barramundi and rice dishes for weekend breakfasts and
thankyou Camden Smith and Julie Maloney for being my friends.
I have
just written a 100th of the help I received in a few months of my life.
It has been like this forever. I thank all the people I haven’t
mentioned and give thanks for all the journeys we have taken together
and the creatures, the glorious creatures that have been with me along
this way. You know who you are please understand I have become
slightly overwhelmed writing this.
Thankyou Les Evans for your
friendship, my crazy family, Wendy Lewis my dear friend who really
needs to be right up there at the top of the list and Wendy Carter who
has been there in so many ways, Brad Vincent who denied me the right to
be with him, (I am aware I would not be doing this if you had wanted me
to stay). Then there was John Flynn, who put this website together for
me. A friend of Alan Symes, I had never met you and you never asked for
payment. Here you are doing it all again because you believe in
anything that helps towards a better world. Peter Day from Many Rivers
and Anita Sutherland from Kimberley Small Business Support So many
people all who believe in me so much more than I believe in myself.
A note from me as the cards take off on their new journey.
It is 2023 and I am 71 now, retired and living back in my beloved Kimberley. I live on my friends block out of town and spend my days in nature. It is wonderful.
I was going to leave all this alone and just focus on staying happy until I die.
The cards had another idea!
Some of the team have left and the rest of us are getting old. Sarah Brett was a friend for years and thought she may take the cards on but it did not happen so she has left and handed to next printing to Jade Devenish. Alan Symes, (bless him), is still supporting and right now has organised the update of this website so we can use it again. He is also fixing, yet again, my broken-down car!
I haven't heard from Ian Robertson for years but my friends Ben Broady and Gerald Mills are both here in the Kimberley which is a great bonus for me.
2022 the cards decided their time had come and I suddenly started getting emails and calls from people I had read for 40 and 50 years ago. My Nephews daughter, Jade, who lives in India has taken them on and is reprinting them. We are making a few changes to bring us into the 20th century. She has her own amazing story which I hope she will share bits of on here some time.
I was 'going off the grid' and the cards called me back. I started working with Jade on some changes and the next thing I knew I was reading again and life got a bit discombobulated.
I had to revisit the world of technology and phones and emails. We are in the bush so I had to order Star Link to get on the net and prepare myself that I may have to actually talk to people!
I am in a wonderful bubble here and I don't want to break it so I have carefully negotiated myself and the cards into the bubble, but there are rules so I don't waver from my own path of learning or disturb this wonderful space with my work.
So here I am again...... blessings to all.
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