Jonathan Greenbank

When it came to presenting the findings in the academy for the exhibition, I had a clear idea in my mind as to what I wanted to present. Transferring the documentation to the gallery space was not a straightforward process, however, there were several issues which I first needed to resolve… My grand ideas of using the toilets as a place for ‘art outside the gallery walls’ or employing a fortune teller for the private view, had to be reined in and will be reserved for next year when we are the more prominent cohort.

Similarly, I had a dilemma regarding just how much I wanted to ‘say’. By developing the narratives the way I have, I came to enjoy using my imagination in a playful way and encouraging others to interpret things the way they wanted to. Always careful to leave subtle clues and allow others’ imaginations to ‘fill in the gaps’, when presenting such a body of work to the public – many of whom would not be familiar with the style of my blog – I became conscious that there was a danger of giving too much away.

And finally, I was not confident enough about the short documentary I have made, to have it projected in the gallery, and preferred more intimate presentation via a laptop (with the accompanying soundtrack on the actual dictation machine I used during the readings) although clearly this is an area to explore for future practice. I have embraced new technologies in terms of my website, which has been an online exhibition of sorts with elements of collaboration, in terms of the comments submitted.

I do, though, feel I have reached a balance in the physical installation I have ultimately produced.

Because I was creating a semi-fictional world, I wanted to present objects as if they were artefacts one might find in a museum, so borrowed some display cases and offered a fabricated cataloguing system for the objects related to each narrative. I have read that what I have created, could be described as alter-modern (being as I am, an artist working with super-modern themes with text and image across time and space) but throughout my journey, the concept behind what I have been doing has been key.

The art I have presented is not quite objectless, but is based on a mixture of fact, fiction and memory, scribbled notes or fantastic ideas. I was also keen to encourage at least some participation by viewers, even if I wasn’t letting them ‘in’ completely, and my submission fits the description given to conceptual art following the 1960s, by Daniel Marzona:

“At a stroke, art was understood as a special form of information, which was often presented as a combination of photography and text.. the beholder was now finally being urged to take part in the art actively, and often at considerable expenditure of effort…”[1]

The main body of the piece is quite minimalist, with traditional display methods underneath randomly-hung frames. My desk, notice board and reference books are there in the gallery too, to recreate my working space and hints at the processes I have followed, allowing viewers some access at least to the methods I employ, whilst the recreation of a fortune teller’s booth table, complete with free fortune cookies and fortune teller fish, is another playful gesture of involving members of the public in my story.

Ultimately, this work presents my version and others’ interpretations of events from the past and in the future, so it should be recognised as a collaborative piece, even though many of my colleagues were unaware of their input. The installation’s title is ‘Halfway to Paradise’ because Billy Fury was a regular visitor to Blackpool fortune tellers related to some of those whom I myself frequented, but also because I find myself in a state of transition in many areas of my life, not least in transcending from a gloomy past (Unlucky for Some) towards a brighter future (which, as many a palm reading told me, is In Your Hands). A rejected alternative was the song lyric “The past was yours, but the future’s mine”[2].

Where I go from here is an interesting question. One small project I have already begun to undertake is mapping the findings of the seven readings and then log their resonance or otherwise what happens in my everyday life. This has already started (indeed, some of what I was told has come true this past week) and will be documented in a diary that will last exactly one year. In this I will also keep a record of every horoscope that I read during that time.

Another step I have tentatively taken is to document the responses of other people to what they are told by fortune tellers. The first experiment of this type gave rather unsurprising results, as during a return to Morecambe, my girlfriend was told almost exactly the same during a reading as I had been by the same fortune teller a month previous. I must then decide how to interpret this – either the fortune teller says the same thing all the time and makes up more than I do; she saw me coming and wanted to join in the game by giving false information; or, our fates are similar and we are simply meant to be together.

I will also be writing a second series of short stories, based on people’s interventions in my future, following what I have been told will happen to me. These will be more difficult to create, but perhaps allow more theoretical foundations, especially if I continue my wider reading around the subject, on issues such as synchronicity, self-fulfilling prophecies, time travel and spirituality. 

She looked the part, dark glasses, long black hair. I recorded this reading too, as it was going to be my last.

“I’m no make believe gypsy,” she told me, “I’m a true born Romany. What I say is guaranteed to come true in the next year.”

She told me she could also do more expensive readings to forecast the next three months, and that I should think about this, as there was something she really wanted me to know.

“Where you go once, you can go again. You have very good character, and bear a good name. Exactly a month today, you will get a big surprise – it will make you very happy. But be careful who you trust, and who you tell things. Be wary.

“You are not going to die of sickness. It will be of old age. You will never be a burden. You were born under a lucky star. You’re a survivor, you’re like a cat, you’ve got nine lives. But you worry, I can see. Try not to take life too seriously.”

“What is your biggest worry?” she asked. Travel, I replied. “Your career… you’ll make a change, soon. You won’t spend your days doing it, you’ll work for yourself. Have you considered living abroad?”

“You’ve got a good partner. I see big changes and surprises in the next six months… and within the next three months, you’ll come into good money unexpectedly. Not millions, but a nice amount. Don’t lend it: you need to be careful who you trust.”

She kept saying, don’t share too much with others, keep things to yourself.

Then it came.

“Now there is something I want to tell you, something you should know, I do wish you could afford the extra cost… go on, it’s not every day you get your palm read!”

I parted with an extra seven pounds. She handed me the crystal ball. “Go on, make a wish…”

She then told me my wish would come true, and that I was born to be the father of three, two boys and one girl.

After re-iterating what she had told me during the hands-and-face reading, she simply said, “If only you knew how happy your future is going to be… you wouldn’t worry.”

On the way out, I asked her name again.

“It’s outside. You won’t forget it in a hurry.”

I had to wait to go in: she was on the ‘phone, reading from a magazine.

She was definitely the most glamorous of the tellers I’d visited.

No wish this time, it cost £10, not the advertised three, though she did read both hands.

“Wherever you go once, you can go back to. You are popular, and well-liked. You’ll live into your eighties, you won’t be a burden.”

She pointed out my life lines, then asked my age.

She asked if I was in management, because she believed I was about to make a career change – I should go it alone, and will have made my name by the age of 40.

“5 and 8 are your lucky numbers… blue and white your lucky colours… and Saturday your lucky day, so anything you do, do it on a Saturday and it’ll be lucky.”

“The dates December 17th or 18th are big days for you, you’ll get a nice surprise.”

She asked if I had any unanswered questions. I mentioned the sugar.

“No, I don’t see any sugar in your palm at all. What will kill you is something like a heart attack, something sudden and painless. You won’t suffer.”

Before leaving, I bought a lucky birthstone charm bear from her for three pounds.

I closed the door. This was a small booth. She was sat at the back, watching House. Her phone rang twice whilst I was with her.

This was the cheapest reading: only £5 for the right hand.

She crossed the hand for life, love, health and happiness, then said these were the hands of a gentleman.

“I see a stick… you’ll live to an old age… you won’t be a burden.”

“I also see a wedding ring, you’ve thought about it haven’t you? The girl you’re with now, her head’s screwed on, isn’t it?  She’ll stay true to you.”

“I see you crossing the water – you’ll have a good time, and meet friends.”

“You’ve got an outing planned with friends I see.”

I did, the next day, to watch the match.

“ Wear blue, it’ll bring you good luck.”

We lost 6-1.

“I can also see a change of car, do you know who that is? Because I can also see L plates… You’ll be a successful driver.”

She also saw me rocking the cradle three times. One child is going to be a talented musician, one will need a bit more pushing, but will be happy. And, asked if I knew someone who had rocked the cradle before marriage… and to expect good news from them soon. She also saw a christening in the near future.

“I see a bit of jealousy, someone who’s a bit two-faced… Do you know who that is?”

This has come up a few times now.

“I also see paperwork, I think you’ll be your own boss because you’re independent and you don’t like debt.”

This is getting scary.

This time the tape recording worked. And it was perhaps my most positive reading of all.

I didn’t even make a wish at the start.

She discussed my options, and told me I was lucky as she’d only just started for the day.

“You’ll live to a long age. Your life line’s strong. But you’ve had a lot of worries and stress, you get down hearted and depressed, and you’ve had a lot of bad luck for a young man.

“But 2009 is going out a lot brighter than it came in.”

She discussed my indecisiveness, that this is my year for changes, for decisions, that I’ll be lucky, but I try to please too many people.

She told me everything will be ok.

“Are you looking to move house?” I nodded. “Make a decision and stick to it… Don’t hang about!”

She told me she sees a birth, a death and a marriage in the next twelve months too. The death will be someone old, maybe the person I’m thinking of, maybe not. I will come into money, but may be wronged out of it… “Because some people are one way to you, and another behind your back. You do know that, don’t you?”

She told me I had a married man’s hand, and that there’d been slight disappointment, and to be careful of people who have tried to split us up. She spoke about crossing of water, asked about uniform for work, and setting up a business on my own, re-iterating that I mustn’t hang about!

7 & 11 are lucky numbers for me. I will come into a lump sum of money linked to a government white paper… but I need to be careful.

“I see an odd number of children on your hand. Definitely one, maybe three. It could be twins – are there twins in your family?” I said no, but should have said yes. “One child comes up, then another two.”

She told me I’d found the right young lady, that health and happiness comes up on my hand, that I’d had my bad luck and had good luck to come… and that my destiny started now.

With that, I left.

I tried to record this one. The dictaphone didn’t work and I was convinced for a short time that a strange force was stopping this from happening.

After a short wait, in I went.

I was asked to make a wish with a crystal ball in my left hand. She then held both.

“You’re a worrier,” she said, pointing out my worry line full of anxieties on my right hand, “ but your life line’s strong. Your brain’s strong too – you won’t suffer tumours or haemorrhages.”

“You’re not married yet, are you… Don’t worry, it will happen, but it was meant to be nearer thirty than twenty. How old are you?” she asked, twenty nine the reply, “well you’ve already met the person you will marry, it could be the person you’re with now, it could be someone you went to school with…”

“I hope not,” I replied, “I went to an all-boys’ school!”

She laughed and went into one about how her daughters went to an all-girls’ school and were horrible to each other.

She went on to tell me more about me, though.

“You’re going through a big period of change… don’t worry, it’ll be for the best. In September, you’re going to come in to some money.

“I also see you travelling across the water.

“And you were born to be a leader – you will one day be your own boss.”

She wished me luck and bade me farewell.  I stepped out on to the sunny Prom…

This was all getting a bit surreal.

She’d been on TV and had read for all the stars – Jason Donovan, Barbara Windsor, Myleene Klass.

The first thing she did was ask me to make a wish with my ten pound note in my left hand.

She asked if I’d been read before – and was it recently?

This time it was only my left hand she read.

“I see finance is an issue, are you thinking about changing career?” she asked.

“Now I also see a strong relationship line, though there’s been an obstacle in the past also…

“You have a lot of admirers… and your health line is strong. You won’t be a burden, you’ll live to a long age.”

She then told me she saw me travelling over water in the near future, and asked if I was a worrier, then what I worried about.

She said the worst was behind me, and I didn’t need to so much now.

“I also see an illness in the past. And there’s some sugar at the end of your lifeline.

“I see a birth in the next twelve months: it’ll be a nice surprise, someone close.

“You’ll also go to a wedding, and you’ll have a good time.”

That was as much as I can remember, apart from her telling me that I will return to see her in twelve months and tell her how I have got on over the year.

Intrepidly I entered. She beckoned me in, held both my palms.

“These are very creative hands” was the first thing a fortune teller said to me.

Well, before that she told me that recording was not allowed: it was bad luck, so was inviting people to sit in on the reading. Everyone will tell you that, she said. This was all news to me.

I then had to make a wish holding a crystal ball. I did. It’s already come true.

So, creative hands then. A good start. She went on.

“You’ve had rough times. But the next twelve months will be better.

“You’ve got a good health line – there are no signs of dementia. But I do see sugar in your palm – let me ask, do you have a history of diabetes in your family?”

I do. But she suggested it could be in my future, too.

“You’re stubborn… and you can be a bit pig-headed, can’t you… and you’ve made a few wrong decisions in the past, haven’t you?”

My marriage line is strong and healthy, apparently. I will only be married once, and she could see two children.

She saw a birth, a death and a marriage in the next year. The death will be someone over seventy, and it will not be a surprise. She then told me she saw a glass and bottle, and asked if there was someone I could think of who had a drink problem. I could. She said to be careful, it’s not yet a problem but could be.

“You have a very strong life line: you will live to a good age. You won’t be a burden.

“You’re going through changes in work, aren’t you? It will be better, don’t worry.

“There’s someone around you who you worry about? Things will get easier.

“And is there someone close to you who you think is a bit two-faced too… Be wary of them.

“Are you considering moving? It won’t be forced, you will make the right decision.”

She ended the reading by wish me health and happiness, and invited me back in twelve months to let her know how I’d got on, and maybe have my tarots read.

I gave her £10 and left.

(Have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Da50Bzn2Lg)

There are definite links between much of what I have been told, though each reading also gave its own piece of interesting insight. Clearly there is something in this. I have spoken to many cynics who have dismissed my experiments, or what I have been told.

Despite being told by the first palm reader that to record a reading brought bad luck, I was fortunate enough to record a couple of my subsequent readings, using a hidden microphone. This added excitement to proceedings, though also a little guilt. It did though mean I have been able to listen again and go back over the few minutes we shared, anyone who has had a reading without taking notes will know that it can sometimes be difficult to take it all in and even in my post-reading video diary, I admit there will have been some things I was unable to recall.

But I have certainly overcome the fears that I initially had regarding meeting a psychic. Many people are too nervous to be ‘read’, whilst others I think read too much into what they might be told. My outside research has taught me that whatever we get told is only a guide, it is still up to us to make the decisions.

But too much got said across the seven readings that suggested consistencies and I can not get away from that. I know that seafront fortune tellers might not be the most trustworthy of clairvoyants, I certainly got fleeced a couple of times but at the same time, I believe that adds to the experience, just as the photographs of C List celebrities having their palms read do, the porcelain hands, the expensive lucky charms, the wishing on a crystal ball… Yet still, I listened, and I believed.

I still believe.

You see, the visits were on the whole intimate experiences, and were very rewarding. Even though this was an expensive project, in terms of money and emotions, I am really glad I have done it.

(Now listen to this… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKXdFriKuE8)

My life has already changed since the first reading, and I believe will continue to even more.

As always, I welcome any comments or questions you might have, or any stories you might be able to share with me about visits to fortune tellers: theartist@jonathangreenbank.com