Skip to Navigation Youtube Instagram

" The Holy Land is everywhere "

Black Elk

Orson Welles, Nakedness & Radishes

February 16th, 2008

I’m on the hunt of the peculiar convergence of nakedness, spirituality and root vegetables that I am starting to discern in various works of art.

In an earlier post I mentioned Alanis Morisette’s powerful song Thank U, which conveys spiritual ideas, but also bizarrely mentions carrots. You can see her singing it here. It is a beautiful little film that shows her singing the song naked in urban settings – streets, trains, supermarkets – and most people ignore her. But occasionally her message touches them and they acknowledge her. Wonderful!

And here’s another film clip – showing, some say, the most important moment in the history of cinema. From F For Fake, released in 1974, Orson Welles sings the praises of Chartres Cathedral. Again spirituality, nakedness and root vegetables come together – but this time it’s radishes.

Something very odd is going on here…