Continuing research and an exciting art show

I've been having a couple of those months where I feel so stuck when it comes to making work. It's a normal part of the process, but it's hard not to get angry and frustrated with yourself. I have set up a studio space at home - it's small but it will allow me to get ideas out and I can shoot them later with a better set-up.In lieu of art-making I've been researching and writing, mainly around my Great Grandfather and the book I am putting together about him. In June I gave a 1 hour lecture in Wellington - only to a small room of people - but it went down well and got a lot of interest. Tonight I am talking again at the Circuit critical forum and I'm going to give a cut-down version with two points that I want to use to generate discussion in the group. The first one is around the ownership of sacred spaces and I will use his protesting of access to Stonehenge and clashes with government and landowners as my jump-off point. The second is around the assuming of personas to carry a message or enact an expression of will. My Great Grandfather had quite a number of characters he assumed and several of them could be considered cultural appropriation/Orientalism. While I don't want to go so far into that aspect, I'm sure it will come up and is an interesting subject to address. What I would very much like to discuss is how artists utilise personas within creation of their work, both in public and private.In a couple of weeks I'm flying down to Wellington again for the opening weekend of the 'Occulture' exhibition. This is very exciting to me and not something I expected to see here in NZ (although the 'Mystic Truths' show at AAG in 2007 does set some precedent). I very much look forward to seeing some of this work for the first time and some of it for a repeat viewing!