A cat on your lap, uninvited
A cat on your lap, uninvited is aninterim publication of an ongoing archive embarking upon multiple narratives that are explored through visual material and developed during the course Archives and Sources. The publication contains images of Pomanders (a piece of jewellery that was worn around the private female parts to disguise menstrual smells), anonymous hazmat and Science Fiction inspired space suits, masculine cinematic apes dragging superficial woman in a bridal carry, feminist performances and archival material from the matrilineal society in Juchitàn, Mexico. The archival material, in short, is touching upon subjects as protecting, covering, uncovering, oppression and historical stigma about femininity and masculinity. Gathering the material of the book began by collecting as many images as I could find and after that making a precise selection by categorizing groups of images by their (visual) theme. Within the making process and in discussionS with the tutors it became evident that I needed to open up the narrative of the archive in the graphical representation of the book; folding the pages in such a manner that multiple compositions could be made with the images by the reader. With this I hoped to achieve a possibility for the reader to personally interact with the archive, making the archive active. Instead of printing the image directly on the paper I made the choice to add tape as an addition onto the picture to evoke a certain feeling of indefiniteness and ever-changeability which, hopefully, underscores my intention for the reader to build their own narratives throughout the archive. The text in the book is a basic source list of the images, functioning more as background knowledge than a narrative that has to be followed. All of this shows that the publication is an attempt to let the eye of the reader have room for their own approach towards the archive material and construct, with the theoretical designations, their own activation of the archive.
Lilith
Lilithis a publication in progress which consists of images and text, and depicts a dialogue between a Friend and a Companion. It originated from my personal fascination with the story of Lilith and its temporal significance. Lilith was the first woman created out of the same loam as Adam, but she was not willing to be subservient to him, sexually as well as generaly. Because of Adam’s fury concerning her nonconformist attitude she fled from the garden of Eden to the Red Sea. It became clear to me during the writing process that the moment of her resting in the sea floating, unconstrained, inspired me most. Within the dialogue in the book the quality of water and the ocean as a place of reconsideration and transformation are emphasized by the protagonists. They speak about hydro-flexibility and water as a forgiving yet containing body which absorbs and preserves the fluids and materials that are released within transformation or metamorphosis. Lilith, as a result, became more important as an abstraction within the dialogue, a hybrid identity rather than a historical figure. In the dialogue the material that is left behind within transformation or metamorphosis are washed ashore and found by the hand of a family collecting objects. This family is shown in the images that are placed next to the text. The images are filmstills from recordings made on the island Fuerteventura and are, within the narrative, the scenario the two protagonists witness while they have lunch and their conversation on a porch. The scenario and added ‘actions’ done by the protagonists became of importance to substantiate and make the dialogue more relatable when the text remained opaque in content. These discoverings or editorial tricks were part of the overall process of this project, which was part of a course called ‘editorial’. This course was mostly concerned with how to use language within your own practice and make your writing or text accessible for a broader audience.
Find the publication here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_ohKZrEEJ-iL8coitmckSH7siD2l0vtP/view?usp=sharing