Last weekend a few days before Christmas during the solstice I went to Stroud and Gloucestershire to visit an exhibition and symposium on the theme of earth magic. The reason I went is that two people whose work I admire were exhibiting and also fancy seeing the cute little town of Stroud so it was a win on all counts.
I met Libby both in 2022 at the Trans states conference where she was exhibiting her excellent artwork. (I was also giving a talk at the conference and screened one of my videos.)I was attracted to Libby‘s work immediately and we soon got talking and I understood that she’s an extremely interesting woman She started her artistic career in travelling theatre and from this she has very strong skills and design and making this can include anything from what we might consider to be theatrical props, costumes, masks et cetera and she also has great skill and imagination in live art and performance. A train she was exhibiting fine artwork which were excellent and I purchased a set of Oracle cards she made.
Hailing from the west country Libby has spent a large part of her adult life working as a driver and living as part of a vehicle dwelling community – which Britain has quite a bit of actually – it’s a very different and much more free lifestyle and then itself well to artists who have the tenacity and skills to survive not exactly off grid, but perhaps with 1 foot off the grid. according to the artist during lockdown she decided it was high time. She took the plunge and went to art school despite being a practising artist for many years she had not that point had formal art education and she jumped into it with enthusiasm bring all of her theatrical skills into the mix started out as a bit of whimsy. The museum outside magic has turned into a quite a monumental project which demonstrates exactly how magic works and shows us a blueprint for re-enchanting the world and our lives and this is remarkable.
Therefore, I eagerly boarded the train to Stroud in order to see the magical Museum of Roadside Magic. Inside a charmingly painted yellow vehicle, this traveling archive brings to life the intriguing realm of magical practices, folklore, and plant wisdom as it pertains to vehicle maintenance, repair, and journey planning. The layout is reminiscent of a traditional museum, with glass cases holding amulets and other small objects and the walls being hung with various other things such as masks, photographs and other materials just like in a folklore or ethnographical museum Libby has assembled a fascinating collection of photographs, costumes, and artifacts celebrating such ‘roadside folk traditions’ as Gasket Dancing, Pipe Dressing, Diesel Clapping, and the fascinating Brydes of Tacho are just a few of the purported roadlore practices showcased in the museum’s exhibits, which are framed within a complex speculative fiction about roadside magic.
Research, performance, and storytelling come together in the museum to create an enchanting and imaginative experience. In addition to being entertaining, it reveals some fascinating insights into how magic works. While discussing the project with Libby and listening to her presentation, she mentions that her understanding of folklore and magic deepened as she dug deeper into her research. Subsequently, her invented fictitious road cosmologies and rites began to have an effect. In fact, the talismans and amulets she made began to work; they began to provide real advantages, whether these be psychological or the result of actually absorbing energies and channeling them for the intended goal—the essence of magic.
Belief and practice are the two most important components of magic. It is fundamentally true. If you put in the time, effort, and faith, those things will work. True, it’s not easy, but the museum of roadside magic could perhaps be a blueprint for us to re-enchant our own lives through magical practice. It requires effort, but the payoff is great. Is there more going on at the Museum of Roadside Magic than meets the eye? I think Libby is doing something really genuine, and it’s got a lot of potential beyond simply being an excellent artistic endeavour.
Art and Magick 