Preparations for my residency in China (as two.5, with the American Photographer Samantha Silver) are starting to come together. We’ve both got our visas now, and my vaccinations are almost probably definitely up to date (if my mother is reading this then don’t freak out- I’ve made a travel clinic appointment to double-check). I’m flying out on 17th November and we’ll be working together for three weeks, staying at an artists studio in a Naxi farming village in Lijiang county, Yunnan province. During the residency we’ll be weaving together found artefacts, images of the landscape, portraiture and biographical accounts to create a texturally rich record of the place in the time that we are there. The final piece/s will be both a physical and a digital commonplace book, inspired by the early modern European tradition of commonplace books, such as these examples from the 14th & 17th centuries above & below, respectively).
The two.5 website (and our participatory artists blog about places & processes, The Peripatetic Studio) is in the middle of a much-needed overhaul by Lemony Design, but Samantha and I will be blogging about the residency on the new website as we go along. We’ll also be launching our internet-based digital book, Dirty Laundry, before we leave. DL is a collection of 12 short stories written to illustrate and accompany 12 photographic triptychs. It has evolved from a call-and-response format based in the blogosphere to a purpose-designed web application for iPads (you may remember our epic crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo earlier this year to cover production costs).
It’s National Poetry day today so go buy/try something new. I’m checking out the Emma Press anthology of Motherhood and anthology of Fatherhood in celebration of becoming an auntie earlier this week (hurrah!), as well as listening to poems from the NCLA archive from Sean O’Brien, Tara Bergin, Hannah Lowe, Linda France and many more.
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Viccy Adams 