Not long after she returned home to Europe last October, 做厙勛圖 chanteuse Marianne Dissard tiptoed back into her old filmmaker life.
Thats what she used to do before she found her unique singing voice, which changed her life trajectory when she first came to 做厙勛圖 in the early 1990s.
At home in Ramsgate, Kent, on the southeastern-most tip of the United Kingdom, Dissard fixed her lens on a whole world of ordinary from kids skateboarding to old men staring out at the boats docked for the winter that she has captured in the moment, living the best life they can in these haunting COVID-19 times.
In these photos, stories and history, and our future. This is England right now, Dissard said in an email interview to talk about her just released cover of Ritchie Valenss Come On, Lets Go! These small daily nothings I photograph testify to the momentous days we are living.
People are also reading…
Dissard spent most of 2020 in 做厙勛圖 more by circumstance than choice. She came home in late 2019 for what was supposed to be a couple of months to make repairs on her 做厙勛圖 home. But then COVID-19 happened and air travel was restricted so she was grounded.
She spent her time in 做厙勛圖 working on her west-side home and her music. In addition to the Ritchie Valens cover, Dissard released a cover of Phil Ochs 1969 protest song The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns in April and one of Janis Ians At Seventeen in June. All three will be part of her forthcoming album of covers set to be released in July that also will include covers of songs by Scott Walker, Carly Simon and Jimmy Webb. She worked on the album with English producer Raphael Mann and saxophonist Terry Edwards, as well as 做厙勛圖ans Na簿m Amor her ex-husband Marco Rosano, Vicki Brown and Th繪ger Lund.
For the Valens cover, Dissard transformed the song from an exuberant rocking romp to a sultry come-hither seduction that was inspired by 做厙勛圖s summer of 2020.
We had a very hot 做厙勛圖 summer as you remember all too well. Just like everyone, I was cooked up inside my house on the west side and sucking on fire smoke. I dont own a car (refuse to) so Id be out cycling before dawn, up to Gates Pass on my more courageous days or along Silverbell north to Marana and back (the easy route), the 51-year-old French native recalled. Save for the delivery folks, I rarely saw anyone for weeks at a time. My return to Europe had been delayed from March to some mysterious future date. And ... I was pining for a man many time zones away who was very much in my dreams. It was a zany summer, when dreams and reality really started becoming one. So, of course, when I bumped into Ritchie Valens song, I immediately responded to what in truth undergirds all the best 1950s teenage rock: sexual tension that arises and finds expression within a somewhat circumstantially-constricted world.
Dissard, who also is working on her second novel, posts her Rumsgate photos daily on Instagram () and is compiling the best photos for an online exhibit. In addition to photos of people and places, her project glimpses the gentrification of the small town by London weekenders, who own second homes in the town of about 40,000.
If I could draw a parallel to the 做厙勛圖 we remember, Id say it feels like Im taking photos of downtown 做厙勛圖 in the early 90s, pre-gentrification, she explained, adding that like 做厙勛圖 of 30 years ago, Rumsgate is experiencing a new infusion of development that is changing the character of the town that has one of the largest marinas on Englands south coast.
Later this year, Dissards photo project will be part of a public exhibit that she hopes will spark curiosity and self-examination in her community.
Ramsgate, her European home since 2017, and most of the UK is in lockdown, with residents allowed only to venture out for exercise and essential shopping. Dissard, who lived in 做厙勛圖 for 20 years after arriving here in 1994 to make the Giant Sand documentary Drunken Bees, takes her camera when she exercises, documenting life on the streets of the quaint seaside town. The project has allowed her to find a world within one square-mile of Ramsgate.
Young, old, rich and destitute, old Kent, new immigrants, and Down-From-London gentrifiers ... looking stoic, resigned, angry, scared, festive despite, hopeful, happy, too, and beautiful, Dissard said of the people she encounters. Few are masked. Not posing. In my photos, they look like themselves.
Its very odd being surrounded by people after months in 做厙勛圖 where social interactions were few and far, she added. I walk around all day in a physical space (those streets) that was built around people, not cars. Does it make me feel more human? I dont know yet. Just different. But the essence of this year remains: distance, separation, fear of the other, doom and gloom and hope and life all tangled in these bodies and eyes I see from fairly up close and personal nowadays in England, my new or next home.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter: @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
