id been meditating seriously for around nine months and had been drawing with charcoal a lot.
the wall idea all started around the time i got rid of what were left of my possessions and stopped leaving the bunker
unless absolutely necessary.
i was there talking to peter bromley about photography and said ive decided the only photographs im going to take from now on are going to be in here; everything i need can be found on this wall.
it seemed to just happen.
the wall somehow began to take on a great significance amongst my thoughts.
and id been thinking a lot about impermanence about comings and goings about how thoughts and things develop and dissolve here one day gone the next moment by moment.
and the seat i meditate in faces the wall this wall that used to house many of the books now gone and i opened my eyes one morning and there it was a 2.5 by 2 metre surface ready for painting and thats how it began the project that would consume my days and nights for the next nine months painting and making good and painting and painting over and observing and listening and communing with and painting again; this process and the people involved along the way; what a wondrous life changing journey and at the outset filmmaker peter bromley of 1968 film group got involved and began recording and documenting the process resulting in a thirty minute film which is amazing and was such a thrill to be part of.

the film ‘walls talk’ and this publication are a record of the project.

and this Meditation Activated Art Project MAAP 1 is the first of a short series of zines covering how my art work has been directly influenced by my daily practice of transcendental meditation.

phil thomas 2025