Guernica

Heard on the news that a tapestry of Guernica is coming to London to be on show. I hope I get to see it.
When I was young girl I saw Guernica and it made the deepest impression on me. In fact the work inhabited my nightmares and daymares for years and years.
We lived in Spain for a while and it seeped into my being. The light, the scents, the flavours, the warmth and dry air on my skin, the kindness of people to kids, the language and the colours which were so vivid to me. I enjoyed the time spent there immensely. I had a freedom I had not had before. Free to roam and make friends and explore on my own. I used to go to the cloisters and spend time in the gardens helping out.
I learned how to swim there, but I also had a a near drowning experience which still makes me unhappy about having water over my head although I LOVE swimming.
The Gaudi architecture seemed to be designed just for the pleasure of us young folk.
I was very happy there and yet the nightmares that haunted me for years in my youth were also acquired there. Guernica for one and going to a bull fight the other. It was the most traumatic experience of my life for a long while. I was identifying with the bull and screamed when he died, thick blood pouring out of his mouth. This image was impossible to eradicate.
This living in Spain was very much about life and death and the intensity of living with those dualities.
I feel grateful to my parents for brining us there to live.