Introducing Sheree Mack

Picture  ©Alastair Cook 2013 I am coming up to my tenth year of blogging. Apparently, blogging turns 20 this year too. I can still remember the first blog I wrote. The purpose was to spread the word, keeping people updated about the development of a newly created group of writers. We presented a professional and informative face that meant keeping people at the distance. Things have changed since then. Now blogging is all about making a connection with your readers. I’m always drawn into reading other people’s blogs. Favourite and popular blogs are where an individual shares the light and shade of their life. Blogs that are open, honest and emotional, rooted in real experiences are the blogs that the reader can forge that vital connection and return to. If I go away from reading a blog having learnt something new at the same time as feeling something, then I am a satisfied customer. Sharing our stories and experiences with one another helps us feel less alone. It is also a great way of transforming the ideas, thoughts, and plans that are jumbled up in our heads into a tangible form. Through the writing, things become clearer. A blog is less a diary and more a magazine, a place where you can document projects, curate images and words, sharing motivations, research findings and outcomes. Here is where you will read the Absent Voices blog. This is where you will find the life and the heart of the project. I intend to gather the threads together from all the artists involved in the project and weave a rich tapestry of what is happening behind the scenes as well as the front of house as the project progresses towards the grand finale in November 2014. There’ll be lots of blog posts about ideas as well as interviews with the artists involved. There will be feedback on activities facilitated as well as details about that vital community engagement in all parts of this project. Absent Voices, the project, would continue to be silent without community involvement, thank you. Keep checking back as this blog continues to be updated.