Sanctuary and House of Macmillan – Transcript of Interview opened by the Mayor of Islington

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Sanctuary and House of Macmillan – Transcript of Interview opened by the Mayor of Islington

MAYOR OF ISLINGTON, Clr Anjna Khurana:

Hi, everyone. Good evening.

I’m so happy to be here tonight, for this music launch to honour Macmillan Publishers and to celebrate ten years of living in Islington, a place I love dearly myself.

I’m twenty years, your ten years. We have Shirley who’s been over seventy years. So, you know, she wins, basically. But, you know, the borough is so special, because of this incredible community spirit that we have here, which you’ve embraced, and, yeah, can contributed to so beautifully.

Okay.

So your story of resilience and creativity is very, very inspiring. And I want to particularly recognize the outstanding NHS care workers who played such an important role in your journey.

Their dedication truly represents the very, very heart of Islington. Woo woo woo.

I’m also going to give special thanks to one or two people who have supported you this journey, your aunt Eva and your family. Aunt Eva. Woo.

Charles and Christa Billich, Praveen Naidoo, Milan, James, Laura Wheeler, Helen, Je Lal, Jo and Moira Mc Kenzie, Ruth Tellis, Claire Hodder, and yourlandlord, Kathy Elsner.

Kathy. Kathy. Woo.

Woo. And Rainbow Properties. So thank you very much for having me to be part of your celebration.

Congratulations on the milestone, and I wish you continued success. I wish it’s all continued success. Yay. Come on, everyone.

 

SAPPHIRA: Okay. You can take a seat. Thank you so much. Wonderful.  A round of applause for Madam Mayor.

Sugar Kane is my dear friend and is just gonna ask a couple of questions. So let’s welcome from Finland, but living in London, Sugar Kane.

 

SUGAR KANE:

Oh, is that interesting? Interesting.

Amazing. Yes.

More sparkle, the better.

Right. So, yes, I’m gonna ask a few questions for my lovely friend, Sapphira.

And the first question is, what is a sanctuary to you?

 

SAPPHIRA:

So today, we’re here to launch sanctuary, and it’s a symbol. I mean, I would like each of you to think for a minute what does the word sanctuary mean to you.

And for me as a performer, it’s not just about bricks and mortar. It’s as an artist, it’s finding collaborations. It’s finding places that nourish your creative arts. And people like these beautiful ladies, Sugar Kane and Isla Belle, who are here supporting because they just see something they wanna support, and that to me is also a sense of sanctuary because I think having those really good soul friendships is important. Would you agree?

But also, the bricks and mortar we have right here, Rotunda has been a not only bricks and mortar sanctuary, but a creative sanctuary. They they provided a free piano and a free drink back in the day for anyone who plays a piano. And it was a place I could rehearse, Kathy, when we lived at yours and we didn’t have a piano. So can we hear it for John Nugent, Green and Fortune, and Rotunda.

They’ve done such a great job. Kasia is inside. I’ll send them this recording, but it’s been incredible. Edward Ball would be really nowhere without Ed who’s done website stuff for me for five years. So thanks to Edward and all the people around the borough that provide a sanctuary from, you know, my parents who are recently helping with homelessness and shelters to the NHS who were there for us when we’re injured, and, you know, obviously, to my beloved Anthony Silcock.

So sanctuary is to my home, but it’s a more wider feeling of sanctuary.

 

 

SUGAR KANE:

Absolutely. That was a beautiful description. And why have you chosen this location?

This location has been my sanctuary. I used to work next door at Macmillan Publishers where the seed of the idea was offered when I write my life story, Burlesque or Bust. And I wrote and checked several of the chapters here whilst also using the piano when I had a free hour, so that is why.

 

SUGAR KANE:

Lovely. And then now tell us about your book, Burlesque or Bust?

 

SAPPHIRA:

Well, it’s just a book about mental health recovery. I truly believe hardships in your life are there because you can get better from them. And I think sometimes the tests, while they’re very unpleasant to go through and you wanna resist that, are actually an essential part of growth. Think aboutthe butterfly.

That phase of going from a caterpillar emerging from the chrysalis is a little bit of a struggle, and that’s actually to become something so much more beautiful. So I think there’s some real truth in the fact that we always have tribulations and then, like, a period of success afterwards. So consider that. It’s a symbol that you can recover from anything.

 

SUGAR KANE:

Absolutely. And what is the poem House of Macmillan?

 

SAPPHIRA:

Well, while I was working at Macmillan Publishers, we have been living in Islington for ten years, you, seventy or more. Macmillan Publishers has celebrated a hundred and seventy five years a hundred and seventy five years in business, and so I read the book by Charles Morgan about this incredible publishing house, and it inspired me. His whole book was called House of Macmillan. So I would like to read in thanks to how to Macmillan who kind of really provided a bit of a sanctuary when I was broke from asking Richard Branson to be my Valentine to coming to London married to the true valentine.

But, you know, they really provided a not only a wonderful place to earn a living, but a very supportive artistic space. Like, they nurtured my writing. So would you like me to read you House of Macmillan just quickly? It’s a little poem in dedication to the publishers.

 

It’s at the back of the book because it’s been so incredible. And, yeah, a big thanks to Emma Bravo and Praveen Naidu who answered my questions from Melbourne hoping to get a role in the London head office, and I did eventually.

Okay. House of Macmillan, you saved me.

Lost, now with glee, I am found.

Pen’s humble servant and guardian bid to say, sing, or write each word down.

I’ve travelled where here it’s commanded.

Without choice, I am at its behest.

With bittersweet journey near broken, found a place for sweet moment of rest.

Your walls echo forebearers’ greatness.

Disciples’ same covenant bound.

The expanse of this mantle is carried like a baton between each passed down.

Though tears taint the ink of each letter, our bloodline a quest to complete.

Restless we with ageless labour, each word births its shape on the sheet.

House of Macmillan, host glorious, I’m at your table to dine.

Shoulder and shoulder the authors, brothers and sisters of mine.

Nourish our souls with your bounty.

Guard us your fortress so bold.

Deep in your archive of treasury, parchments more precious than gold.

A troubadour’s path I was wandering at time in my heart so alone, yet house of Macmillan you saved me, for your house to many is home.

That’s dedicated to James.

 

SUGAR KANE:

Aw. That was beautiful. Now tell us about Billich. Who is Billich?

 

SAPPHIRA:

Billich is my dear friend, an incredible talent. So, you know, occasionally, you meet these extraordinary people and you just have a soul connection. And Charles and I, his first name is Charles, found ourselves in collaboration when he needed a nude model.

And I had never posed nude before, so you can read all about it. It’s a chapter in the book. It was so kind of illuminating and also quite powerful because I I learned to love my body through what his reflection of my perceived lumps and bumps turned out to be. But if you are gonna have that epiphany, do get one of the world’s most famous painters to draw you.

Not me. I probably wouldn’t help with your body confidence if you saw my stick figures. But, he is a phenomenal painter. He is so revered.

He came to Australia from Croatia very destitute and found Australia to be his sanctuary. Now with much love from his partner, Christa, they are two exceptional socialites. They traveled to Monte Carlo to the Grand Prix. He’s had his work commissioned by the Vatican and also by the White House, and he has drawn me.

So today, we’re celebrating Charles Billich and Christa Billich for their unwavering generosity and support.

And I’ll just show you the Not gonna be there. Go.

Yes.

Right.

So while you admire the was it or not?

 

SUGAR KANE:

The next question is, what is here in these pictures? Can you describe them, please?

 

SAPPHIRA:

This is really personal because when I flew to Sydney a few years ago, Charles and I went to see Virgin Australia to ask them to, paint me on the side of a plane. He was agreeing to use his skill as an artist to make the mascot for their livery or fuselage, and we took a photo in the foyer.

And this is what we were sort of wearing, and together over lunch, he drew the sketch that is probably, like, one of the most precious things because he captured the Australian flag scarf in it, and that’s how that work came about. And now we’re, like, in collaboration virtually because we’re in different countries.

You will be able to see that, mom, this is really important to me. When I was sketched by Charles Billich for the first time in 2013, I got published on the same page as Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music, and I thought my career was taking a turn for the better.

 

SUGAR KANE:

And now, finally, why is the Australian flag important to you?

 

SAPPHIRA:

The Australian flag is important to me because I have travelled everywhere to find a artistic solace and foundation rather than a bricks and mortar foundation.

So that means I’ve taken a lot of risks, and I have often not had things that other people value because I value my own artistic expression more. And so that means going to Ibiza, going to wherever, Cannes Film Festival, whatever is required, I will just materialize it somehow. And the flag has just been the one constant.

It’s symbolic of both my English heritage and my Australian heritage.

And whenever I feel a bit lost, I feel a great sense of comfort from the incredible people that have sacrificed what they have to keep our country and to make it a beautiful, welcoming place. And I truly feel Islington is an amplification of that for me in Britain even more than other locations. So I can’t really resonate enough with this symbol.

It’s just so important. And I know a lot of people in the burlesque world think I’m a little bit vanilla that I wear the flag because people are quite sort of discerning artistically and think it’s too commercial, but they don’t probably understand that it is so important to someone who’s just a troubadour and is traveling at you know, wherever the stones throws, I will be in that direction from one day to the next. So that’s why it’s so important to me. It represents true stability even when you’re not actually living in its shores.

 

SUGAR KANE:

Thank you so much, and thank you.

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