Looking for lucie, p.21
Looking for Lucie, page 21
Mum puts her arm around my shoulder. “Well done!” she says. “I’m so proud of you. You know, he would have been completely amazed by your work.”
“Oh Mum,” I say. “That means so much. I thought you might be angry that I didn’t let on about the lost photographs until tonight.”
“It’s all part of the creative process. I understand. I love the way you filmed the turning of sketchbook pages to bring his drawings back to life. And then the panning across the old black and white photographs turning the prints into moving images was genius,” says Mum, forever the photography lecturer.
Dad gives me a squeeze and a proud smile.
“Let’s all go for dinner. I’ve booked us a table just round the corner. Dinner is on me!” booms Uncle Nabeel, back to his normal lively self and trying to organise us all!
We walk out into the warm night. “So what next?” asks Uncle Nabeel.
“I need to try and sell some of my work, to make a living as a textile artist and designer.”
“Thought so. I have a proposition for you.”
Uncle Nabeel tells me he is developing some of the old warehouses round the corner from here and plans to turn it into a carbon neutral creative hub. “It will be one of the biggest developments in Europe, full of artists, designers and makers,” he says excitedly. “Artists and entrepreneurs aren’t so different from each other. We think outside the box and envisage a different future.”
“That sounds amazing,” I say.
“You can have a studio there rent free for a year. Just to get you started.”
“But I want to pay my own way.”
“You’d be doing me a favour,” he says. “Once you are in, others will come.”
Nav runs along and catches me up. “I loved the way your work showcased all those things we talked about, and in such a beautiful way.”
“Thank you!”
“Almost as beautiful as the workings out of a complex equation.”
“Almost?” I ask, smiling at my cousin.
I Am My Ancestors Dream
Your ancestors did not survive
everything that nearly ended them
for you to shrink yourself
to make someone else
comfortable.
This sacrifice is your war cry,
be loud,
be everything
and make them proud.
Nikita Gill
Postscript
When I began writing this book it was in many ways a response to receiving the results of my own DNA test and an exploration of the question I’ve always been asked: Where are you really from? I did not know how I would feel finding out the results, and to anyone thinking of doing this, I suggest talking it through with experts before embarking on the journey.
What I do know is, we need better stories around living as a mixed-race person. Writing for me has always been an exploration of a puzzle circling in my head. I am interested in nature/nurture and the debates around it and hope the characters in the story will give insight into these themes.
Amanda Addison
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to friends and authors for their support and reading early versions of the manuscript. Your comments were invaluable! Erin Bradshaw, Aisha Bushby, Bethan Dunlop, Mariam Issimdar, Sally-Anne Lomas, John Nicholson, Grace Ryding, Sarah Passingham, Bella Pearson, Qaisra Shahraz, Sophie Saunders and Rebecca Shields. A shout out too, to the team at Searchlight Book Awards (especially Kim and Lu) for listing Where are you really from? (the early working title for Looking for Lucie) in their selection of best chapter openings. Thank you to the amazing editorial team at Neem Tree Press for their care and attention in bringing this story to print. Finally, thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to listen to Lucie’s story, although a work of fiction, it has many themes close to my heart.
Amanda Addison, Looking for Lucie
