Jan – Phil Pool – Art and Protest

(View in landscape on phones)

[I took the first set of photos of Jan in April 2022 and we met up again in May 2023 to do some more at the Ouse Valley Viaduct. And we’ve just done some more in April 2025.]

April 2022

Jan said..

I’ve arrived at a place of contentment in life. I look back over what I can only describe as a lucky life, secure loving childhood, a youth full of opportunities which I grabbed wholeheartedly in traveling to many countries and living in many cultures, enjoying the varied colours of the world. I lived so many dreams with very little money. I drove around the USA aged 19 and traversed 37 states. I rode a motorbike from UK into the arctic circle as well as into the Sahara Desert.

I followed Bowie on tour for many years . I lived in the magical mystical country of India which changed the way I perceive life forever, and met the Dalai Lama there. I lived in Africa and had endless amazing wildlife encounters in my training and work as a ranger. I followed my long deceased grandfather’s journey across the Australian outback by following his journal after 70 years and meeting much changed aboriginal populations. These are just a few examples and you can see I lived life to the full so far, always just taking varied low paid work to fund my dreams.

Jan standing in black spider's web like patterned short, skirt and top - with Elvis her dog.

In my early 40s I returned to my Sussex roots and was handed another sort of opportunity, this time a gift of land on which to make my home. I now live in my little round house made of straw, with my devoted hound dog, who keeps me active with walks in wild woods, across open downland and breezy beaches. I’ve always loved being part of nature, and have found confidence over the years to reveal myself fully to the air and sky. I can be more myself out there.

Jan naked standing in front of two mirrors.

And of all the different jobs I’ve done over my life, from sheep stations, mushroom farms and schools and safaris, I find the most enjoyable is as a self employed gardener around my own locality, peace among the plants. Taken me this long to free myself from bosses!

I accept my body as it is, skinny and small breasted, because it is healthy, or at least, it hasn’t let me down yet. Like everyone, I’ve longed to look different sometimes. I’ve dyed my hair red or blue, worn it short and spiky, or currently long and ragged but in it’s natural white. But after all these years of living in it, I respect my body, enjoy it, feed it well, stretch it, massage it and exercise it. I might feel the onset of aches these days after physical work, it lets me know it’s not as elastic as it once was. And menopause looms too, oh joy! Just another life phase after all.

Jan naked standing on some of the supports for the Palace Pier in Brighton.

I try to treat life with lightness even when I think too deeply. I am now watching my dear parents slip into end of life stage, and being there close to them I really value this time, even when it’s really sad to observe them losing their abilities. They have always been there for me and now I return their love and care. And while my life is a little bit on hold for them right now, it just seems like a little rest from all the travels and adventures of my past. Time to just be still and, well, just be.

Jan standing naked by a very large grating in front of a drainage hole in the sea wall in Brighton.

Jan standing naked by the green weed covered sea wall in Brighton.

How lovely and liberating it is then, to discard clothing like flinging off all the worries to the sea breeze, or get lost naked in the woods….where we can be like children again.

Jan’s offering –

(to be read to the tune of David Bowie’s “Time”)

Age
It slips by like an eel
Your youth it quietly steals
The aches become so real

Age
Comes falling at your knees
Desiccating all your skin
And other things beneath
It’s your age

The wrinkles and white hair
Repeated gasps for air
So cruel and so unfair
I look at my memories, in mist they thrive
And I know in my head I’m still alive

We should be old by now
We should be old by now

You
Are not so old
And I just scream at birthdays
We are not going to age

Cripes, we’re heading into doom
But it may not be such gloom
It could be warm in there
It’s my age

Aging is so hard
But for being young I’m grateful
I lived so many dreams
I climbed through many doorways
You, my age, were there, and ever a reminder
I could break through your cage
And know a cosmic rebirth
Return again to find
Aging is contagious
But all I can say now is I dreamed my life away

We should be old by now…..
We should be old by now

Jan Whitlock, April 2022

2023 – Ouse Valley Viaduct

[We had tried to take some photos here later in 2022 but the place was full of people working on the structure. Luckily, on our second visit we had the place to ourselves.]