NINA SIMONES GUM (HB)

Award-winning musician and composer Warren Ellis shares a remarkable and inspiring story of a piece of chewing gum. In 1999 after a rare performance by Dr Nina Simone, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his creative muse, growing in significance with every passing year. In 2019 he realised the time had come to release the gum, sparking a chain of events that no one could have predicted, one that would take him back to his childhood and his relationship to found objects. This is a story about the meaning we place on things, on experiences, and how they become imbued with spirituality. It is a celebration of artistic process, friendship, understanding and love.