Eliza C. Morris: my friend forever <3
There’s been a lot to think about since January. A good friend of mine, Eliza Charlotte Morris passed away that month. I had met her at university. All obvious feelings of grief, disbelief, anger, denial aside, it’s been a bit weird because I’ve not been sure how to address it.
On the one hand, art comes from feelings and all the above are very human, very real experiences and nothing about what I’ve felt has been put on. On the other, I don’t know if acknowledging something as horrible as a friend’s passing in a proposed piece like TCAT would just come across as “using” her for points which I would never want to do. Perhaps this feeling is more so amplified because it was created for the purpose of a uni assessment rather than just a piece of art.
For now, I’ve settled with this post because I think a person like Eliza passing isn’t something you can ignore or swerve round and I think I’ve denied a lot of this for enough time. And because I think she deserves to be spoken about in kind words, even if it is on a rarely visited website in the vast chasm of the internet.
I’d like to start with just talking about her as a person in the way I know how to do best, in a list. Eliza was warm and kind and funny and just a genuinely lovely person to be around. And whilst I didn’t do much with her (partly because I had become a massive hermit, and a fairly big part because lockdown), Eliza always showed her love in little gestures as much as she did with big, gigantic ones. This was originally a thread I made on Twitter but I’ll paraphrase it here - it’s a list of all the nice, little things Eliza did for me to make me feel happy (and just some nice little memories in general)
I bought a ham and cheese panini that I had been CRAVING after my shift and a coffee. We had just gotten our MetCard money but you told the girl serving me not to let me pay and you tapped your MetCard instead which was literally needless because we got the same MSOA money. But that was precisely the sort of thing you’d do to be nice and treat your friends. I wish I could have hugged you through the plexiglass.
Earlier that day I bumped into you, looking for blue roll. Very mundane story but I think in times like this, you treasure even the most mundane workplace interractions.
I remember you giving me a cig and buying me a coffee and hanging out with you before work having a gossip and chinwag. I’m so glad I stayed to talk instead of catching the bus to link with Josh. I would have regretted it so deeply in retrospect. But it was so lovely just to talk. I was broke as hell and you weren’t exactly rich either but you still bought be that coffee because again, it’s the sort of thing you’d do. Boundlessly generous.
When you worked at Shakedown and someone packed the wrong order, you personally intervened to get me like a refund and a bunch of free meals or something mad. It wasn’t even your fault because you made the food (sent me a pic of my order too lol) and someone else packed it but like? that’s some ✨good customer service✨ right there. #Eliza4EOTM
Sometimes, I’d message you to remind you of bin day.
You and I would collab on twitter beef, and we’d PM each other about said beef, takin the mick and I remember one day you got blocked and I had to continue the fight for you. I had so much fun being proper commie buds with you.
When we went to spoons and got curry chips but we elevated it with cheese at Paramount.
Speaking of Spoons, when you interviewed for bar and forgot to bring your passport for PORTW and had to dash home and get it. Probably for the best you didn’t get the job, you were NOT missing out 💀💀💀💀
When you came round mine and it was me, you and Annie drinking lots of white wine and you performed the Navy Seal copypasta as a monologue.
Cigs with Annie and Alicia outside Z-Arts. Going Morrissons next door for egg mayo sandwiches (prawn mayo for Annie).
Sitting in Z-Arts, having a goss, drinking coffee and managing to convince them to let me have my hummus on toast instead of just bread.
After Fight Night when I got myself a lovely concussion you said you loved me so much and wanted to come round and hold ice to my head and make me soup and that made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I wish you were here to do that right now.
As I’ve brought up again and again, our chats about Arsenal. You telling me about the AWFC game you went to see when you lost 4-0 but your dad still said it was one of the best games he’d seen. Recording little clips of goals to send to you at work so you could see them. You complimenting me on my 92 retro kit shirt saying I’d look so good in it when it arrives. You told me of your hopes for the season and you said “Martinelli will lead us to a trophy” (no pressure now lad)
I wanted you to come to watch the NLD (got postponed in the end anyways lol). I wanted us to win for a number of reasons (I support Arsenal so ofc I’d want them to win/ need points for top 4/ ‘ate Tottenham) but now, I think I need us to win for you. Now, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much (in case we botch it, because then I think losing a game I’ve in my head dedicated to you would suck), but it does feel like since I invited you to that match specifically it’s a personal matter.
We played Brentford at The Emirates 3PM the day of your funeral, immediately after it was scheduled to end. The sun started shining even with the storm, I was listening to it on TalkSport. Jake informed me of the first goal (because everything else was lagging behind a bit). Saka and Emile Smith Rowe both made the scoresheet and we won 2-1. I think that was for you.
Another work thing is when I was returning a radio to the office, I saw your name hadn’t been sharpie’d out like the others. I doubt this was intentional but it was nice. Almost like you were still here and part of the team.
When I was attempting to do my brows in first year and I asked you how they looked and you said “sisters not twins”. That’s actually a phrase I still use to this day because of that.
As well as being my friend, Eliza was also on this same course as me, and she was very much a fellow artist. Her bio even reads as such. And whilst we didn’t share a stage for long, we did have fun. I won’t pretend that what we made in first year really is my favourite work for it’s artistic merit, but arguably it was one of the most fun group project I’ve made (more so due to the process and the people which I will talk about more when I upload the video). I’ll also talk a little more about Eliza from more of an artistic standpoint because she deserves to be remembered as such even if she never got to make as much as she could have had she still been alive today. For now, I leave you with some pictures.
Eliza, I’ll miss you always superstar. I love you and I’ll be seeing you around x
