Friday 23 March 2012


STEP ON A CRACK, BREAK YOUR MOTHERS BACK.

STEP ON A LINE, BREAK YOUR MOTHERS SPINE.

I wrote these phrases on the paving stones outside my house, and watched, as people altered their behaviour...
I went on to make 'lucky stickers'

This was an experiment to collect feedback from the public, looking at how people are open to taking opportunities/ how people become more aware of the good things that happen when they have somewhere to source their good fortune, even if it is just through an inanimate object. I posted flyers with these lucky stickers around the city and provided an email adress 'myluckhaschanged@hotmail.com', and got quite a few nice responses from the public, commenting on how what i was doing was 'good karma'





I don't know whether this counts as good luck/fortune but is more serendipity I guess. I think the latter is an accident with a happy outcome?

Anyway I was committed to something today that my heart really wasn't in and that I wished I could get out of, but couldn't. Anyway it was cancelled and not by me! So I pretended to be disappointed but was secretly glad! Does that make me a bad person? Probably!

So one thing that may be ascribed to your "experiment".

I hope you get lot's more positive replies.

I'm going to keep the sticker with me for a bit longer to see what happens.

.............................................................................................................................................................................
         I wouldn't necessarily say this bought me luck but it brought me karma, as i found out that my ex boyfriend has become fat..
          ......................................................................................................................................................................
          What Was This Lucky Sticker All About?

I
Didnt Have Time Too Take 1 Sticker, So I Tool The Page, However I Have Re-Posted The Lucky Sticker Poster In Liverpool City Centre Town :)
I Have a Photograph Too! So
Nw Many More People Will B Lucky.

This Was a Nice Thing Of u Too Do. Good Karma.
I further investigated the idea of luck. Derren Brown's 'Secret of Luck' programme was very interesting.

In the programme, a simple question was posed 'have you heard about the lucky dog statue?'. Rumour spread, and so did stories of luck achieved by petting the ‘lucky dog’. People put rational thought aside , drawing cause and effect where there isn't one.
BUT it became apparent that if you do something that you believe has granted you luck it will affect your behaviour. The more open you are to opportunities, the more you engage with the world around you, more things will happen to you therefore more good things will happen, and you will be more aware of these good things happening. therefore you become luckier.
I decided to visit an old peoples home. My grandma had numerous superstitions, and i began to wonder if beliefs were directly related to different generations. Here are some rough line drawings i did of the old people while there (they didnt mind)





Here are some of the more obscure superstitions they gave me.....

Green is unlucky
Never clip your toenails on a Tuesday
If you head footsteps behind you, never turn around: it may be the dead walking following you
Never face the foot of your bed towards the door, for that’s the way the dead used to be carried out.
Its bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same match
Ghosts love the smell of lemons
Your reflection in a mirror is your actual soul,therefore breaking the mirror brings bad luck.
If the flame of a candle or fire turns blue, it means a spirit is in the room.
Its been a while blogspot. I'm going to try and summarise my year of work. Here goes.

OK. Folklore. Theres tonnes of it. More than i ever knew. I developed an interest in obscure folklore traditions and superstitios behaviour that have stood the test of time. I became intruiged by films such as 'the wicker man'


Unsettling superstitions are evident throughout the film , for example, the local apothecary has foreskins pickled in a jar, Myrtle must swallow a frog to cure her sore throat, tied to a tree over Rowan's grave is her bloodied naval skin.
Although many of the traditions in the film seem laughable today, superstitions are still evident in contemporary society and have stood the test of time. Exploring how even to this day, we still cast rational thought aside when it comes to certain superstitions.