Tract 3 A new Resolution day 1

Thinking about what may happen is the hardest part of standing on the street day after day to be rejected. I began distribution at 1pm and by 2pm had given away the first 100 tracts. For this tract I have used a different image as a border, the last two looked very similar to the true religious tracts whereas this one was black, white and red and looked a little different. The colours look like protest leaflets and several people asked if it was about women’s rights. I guess I looked like a cross between a promoter of some sort and an evangelist and so I used the techniques Andrea Montgomery and I worked on if people spoke to me. I did not ask people to stop and talk outright for two reasons, firstly, if the tract looked different I wanted to see how this worked on its own as a strategy and secondly it was a bit daunting. I didn’t want people to have a bad experience of the project so I need more practise and will work on this before for tract 4. I will go back to a more traditional layout and really work at an actual dialogue in person and then afterwards on this blog.

I met Arthur Magee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPb1w6spNYE) we had a great chat about his solo shows and walks and about what I am attempting with this mission. One thing I realised though is that once you mention religion there is no middle ground. I am occupying a sort of no mans land. I am not against religion, I am not interested in focussing on the bad problems people have with religion as a way to popularise my work, rather I want to provide an alternative dialogue. I want to create a space for those who want to discuss their ways of living and being in a place like Belfast. I am not an evangelist for atheism but rather an evangelist for open discussion.

Practising Secular Evangelism.

I’m looking to get a dialogue started on this blog from the action of handing out the tracts I had a wonderful tutorial with Andrea Montgomery http://www.andreamontgomery.net/

We discussed the options and addressed will and counter-will which in this instance can be summed up as

will: Use religious literature as a vehicle for debate

counter-will: struggling against being identified as Christian but not wanting to reveal the work too quickly.

With tract 3 I have changed the format slightly by altering the background design. I am also hoping to be more direct in encouraging dialogue whilst distributing the tracts. The tutorial with Andrea really focussed my mind on what I want to achieve and the possible ways to attempt this.

Tract 3 will be distributed today from 1-2 in Belfast City Centre on Royal Avenue. I am wearing a bright red coat so you shouldn’t be able to miss me! We shall see what impact terrible weather has on the project. I will post again after 2 and let you all know how it went.

thanks for following my progress and please feel free to leave any comments

A tract in progress.

 

Tract 3 will be going to the printers next week along with Tract 4, I have decided to use a different background as a visual trigger to hint that this tract is not religious literature. Being January this tract is themed on New Years Resolutions and the next tract is about Social Networking. Both will be distributed in Belfast during the remainder of January with the hope that I will complete and distribute 2 tracts a month until May.

As always I will put the finished tract up after I have distributed them.

I am working on selecting possible collectors for the work and am drafting a letter to post along with the first tracts in the series, If you are interested in becoming a collector please let me know.

I am also considering how the work will be displayed at the end of my Masters project. (though this may not be the end of this body of work, obviously I need to present a coherent display of the project and how it has unfolded.)

Tract 2 the distribution photos

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Gives you a little idea of the lonely life of a tract giver.