To the Man in My Dreams

To the Man in My Dreams is a collection of letters between someone who calls himself ‘Father’ and his offspring ‘George’. In each letter, the identities of the writers change, their stories seem stranger and more unfinished. Is George more than one person? Is he a man? Is ‘daddy’ his real father? When were these letters written? And were they ever sent? 

George Chakravarthi developed To the Man in My Dreams in collaboration with members of SW5, London’s advice and information service for male and transgender sex workers at the Terrence Higgens Trust. The letter writing project emerged during workshops led by Chakravarthi as a form of imaginative role-play where identities could be swapped and recreated. He also invited contributions from visitors to bars and pubs in Soho and readers of QX and Boyz magazines. The only rule was that each letter should be between ‘Father’ and ‘George’.

The project was completed over the course of an ordinary pub evening, when Chakravarthi wrote the last letter from George to Father. A live video transmission of the performance was projected nearby. People were invited to watch as he wrote, read the collection of letters, speak to the artist and add their own letters to his archive. Chakravarthi then presented a memorial to that last letter as a new work titled Also Known as John.

Image: George Chakravarthi during his letter writing performance at Comptons of Soho, London, 2006. Photograph: Thierry Bal 

In Conversation: George Chakravarthi and Neil Bartlett

Award-winning artist George Chakravarthi talked informally with celebrated author and director Neil Bartlett at an event entitled, What is it about Fathers? This public event at Madame Jojo's in Soho introduced Chakravarthi's project and its process, and discussed the questions that it provoked around male sex work, father figures and the gay male psyche.

Image: George Chakravarthi and Neil Bartlett in conversation at Madam Jojo's in Soho, London, 2006. Photograph: Thierry Bal

Nights of London

Running for just over a year, Nights of London was a thread of projects exploring the nocturnal life of the city. It ran through cinemas and galleries, was hosted on websites, burned onto CDs, written into letters, performed in nightclubs and broadcast via radio channels, before concluding in an old East End town hall that – for one night only – was filled with bat experts, musicians, cabaret artists and paranormal researchers. We heard stories from the unorthodox side of nightfall. We learned about ways of life that, despite their physical proximity, are all but invisible to most of us, most of the time.

Nights of London projects include:

Night Haunts

Nick Silver Can't Sleep

NightJam

When Night Draws in

To the Man in My Dreams

Radio Nights

Images: Multiple portraits of George Chakravarthi (left). Courtesy: the artist. Chakravarthi during his letter writing performance at Comptons of Soho, London, 2006 (above). Photograph: Thierry Bal 

Credits

Artangel is generously supported by Arts Council England, and by the private patronage of The Artangel International Circle, Special Angels, Guardian Angels and The Company of Angels.

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