a little wound that took days to heal
I just realized that I haven’t written an email for this Mailing List in a while. I’d like to say that I don’t know where the time went. But I know exactly where it went: I have a day job. That’s where it went.
But there was also a task I had to do (unrelated to the job), which involved some financial institution that apparently was mostly a website with possibly some people behind it. The money I was trying to send abroad was stuck, and they kept telling me to send them documentation of some sorts, without letting me know what exactly they were looking for. Everything I sent was rejected, and the automatic system they had set up was sending me more and more threatening messages. Days and days went by with me sending emails or checking the status, and yet nothing was moving. In the end, the money was never sent. I never found out what documentation they had been looking for. Only once did I speak to a real person in the form of someone I engaged with over a “chat” function. That person was hostile and unfriendly. As a consequence of this, I had to send the money through my bank, and there is another story to tell there. But I will spare you that one.
Anyway, that’s what took up a lot of time since my last email. I feel as if I wasted a whole month; undoubtedly I did. And yet, there was nothing that I think I could have done to make any of this more productive.
There also were the elections, and I probably don’t have to tell you which ones. I had been cautiously optimistic (very much out of character for me), but I had not anticipated US voters’ intentions to shoot themselves into the same foot they had shot themselves in just a few short years before. By now, you probably have seen a lot of analyses. I don’t think what I could add to any of that would yield in any further insight. If you want to read an article about, you know, that orange guy, make it this one. It’s by far the best I’ve seen.
I will say this, though, I was struck by how after the election people here were freaking out (maybe in part for good reasons), as if no other country in the world had ever been under an autocratic, neofascist government before. As it turns out, my new photobook deals with exactly that: how do you live in a country ruled by a autocratic, neofascist government? I would honestly have preferred it if the book had not taken on this kind of relevance. I’ll tell you more about it next time.
Regardless, it felt as if during the past few weeks I came across less material to share. I don’t know whether this is simply because I was distracted or whether there was in fact less material. Either way, here is what I have assembled.
This long article by Patrick Fealey about homelessness is by far the most searing, visceral, devastating piece of writing I have read in months:
In 1997, I was a twenty-nine-year-old award-winning art critic and journalist when I was stricken by a violent and disabling onset of manic depression. Bipolar I, rapid-cycling/mixed state, the most severe form of the genetic disorder and often fatal (by suicide). […] I called my editors at Reuters and The Boston Globe and The Narragansett Times, where I had been the art critic, and told them, at the very least, I needed a break. I haven’t returned.
There’s a GoFundMe page for Fealey, set up by someone who read the article. And still that might not even be enough: “No shelters in the area are available for long-term stays and rental rates are expensive. Government-subsidized housing in the area takes years to secure.” There isn’t much to add to this other than what Fealey writes himself. So absolutely make sure to read his piece.
Takuma Nakahira was one of the most interesting Japanese photographers you might have never heard of. He was a member of the Provoke group, and his interest remained at the level discussed by the artists that had formed it: how does/can photography operate, and are there any ways to break through limitations imposed by society? In addition to photographing, he also wrote photography criticism/theory. I recently came a 1972 piece of his entitled The Illusion Called the Documentary: From the Document to the Monument. It’s a really interesting article, in particular since it goes into the thinking behind Provoke (and why it ultimately failed).
Parts of the writing in Rosalind Fox Solomon’s A Woman I Once Knew were published outside of the context of the book. They’re wonderfully effective.
In general, I wish more photographers would write (except for the Japanese ones, who mostly already do). Of course, I’ve heard all the excuses for why they mostly don’t do it. And of course, I don’t believe that they’d all write something interesting. But I mourn all the really good writing that never sees the light of day.
Going through my list of links, there also is this long article about the Paris attack trial. Another long piece, another brilliant piece that pierced my heart and left a little wound that took days to heal.
Jonathan Lethem wrote about Philip K Dick (one of my favourite writers for all the reasons outlined in the piece) and the possible connection to the situation (if that’s even the word in this context) in Palestine.
That’s one of the things good writing does (other than piercing your heart): it brings together seemingly completely separate topics and enriches your understanding of all of them.
Lastly, a somewhat older interview with the incomparable Martha Rosler. I have been spending a bit of time with this artist’s work and writing, so I ended up looking for what I might find online.
And that’s it for today. Listmas has already started, meaning we all will be flooded with endless lists of the best books, videos, … Best this, best that.
It’s worthwhile to remember that art isn’t a competition, though; treating it as if it were cheapens it for all of us. Ignore the lists, and simply enjoy what speaks to you.
As always thank you for reading!
— Jörg