Awkwardness That Is Visible + The Sum Of Its Parts + Cognitive Preferences

3 prose poem

Untitled review of Surface Tension, Derek Beaulieu (Coach House Books)

Book revie

Sunspots

Taking as its starting point the distinctive megalithic remains of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, Sunspots is a carefully edited long-term photographic study of these fragile rural landscapes where the meaning and belonging of everything feels contested. The book contains an essay by Val Williams, Professor of the History and Culture of Photography, London College of Communication A copy of the book and an original silver-print from the series is held in the collection of the National Art Library, V&A Museum, London. https://nal-vam.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/1375677997?queryString=sunspots&clusterResults=false&groupVariantRecords=false&subformat=Book%3A%3Abook_printbook&changedFacet=content&content=notFi

Patchworked and Quilted Aesthetics: Recycling, Reclaiming, Reworking, Reusing, Repairing, Repurposing, Reinterpreting, Representing

Once More With Feeling: Recycling, Reclaiming, Reworking, Reusing, Repairing, Repurposing, Reinterpreting, Representing. 1,000-word illustrated article on reworking materials for sustainable fashion – Alexander McQueen’s patchwork aesthetic for A/W 2020/21; Glasgow-based fashion designer Siobhan McKenna of ReJean where recycled denim is given another life; Greg Lauren’s S/S 2021 Menswear inspired by the Gee’s Bend quilters. Published by Selvedge. March/April 2023 ‘Make Do’ issue No. 111 (pages 50 - 55) Accepted - 29 November 202

Playful Tarot: Adaptations of Tarot In, Through, and Across Games

The magical practice of divination through tarot emanates from the sacred, ritualistic power of play. Long before tarot accretes esoteric symbolism as a divinatory tool, Italians played it as the parlour game tarrochi. Extending this history, many games implement tarot as a mechanical framework and a source of visual imagery. Yet, not all implementations of tarot are equally successful artistically and spiritually. Ludic tarot is often mechanistic (just another way to think about buffs and stats) or superficially thematic (visual imagery without underlying semiotic content). In this paper, we will unravel the intertwined history of games and tarot, exploring its relationship to other cartomantic practices, including the dark Gnostic “Game of Saturn” decoded by Peter Mark Adams in the Sola-Busca deck, the pragmatically cryptic Lenormand deck, and the divinatory use of standard 52-card playing decks in folk witchcraft. Building upon this historical insight, we will then analyse three related tabletop games as case studies: Chalice (in which tarot generates narratives of a failed Grail quest), Alas Vegas (which resolves conflict and generates narrative through tarot-driven blackjack), and Invisible Sun (which reinvents tarot through the circular Sooth deck driving its magic system). All three of these games weave resonant connections between the imagery and mechanics of cards and fictional gameworlds, thereby investing tarot with an eerie sense of meaningful coincidence or synchronicity. Understanding the techniques that create a more resonant experience of tarot can open the way for a deeper implementation of tarot in game development, as well as enable playful reflection and insight within the magical practice. Specifically, insights into non-digital ludic implementations of tarot can pave the way for richer and more resonant digital tarot applications, building upon and deepening the recent use of tarot in videogames (such as Tanya X. Short’s Cartomancy anthology and Adam Malone’s VR tarot)

Red Planet

A poem in response to a visual image

untitled review of The Wind and the Rain, Anthony Wilson (Blue Diode Press)

Poetry book revie

We Come In Peace

Poem in response to visual prompt set by Viusual Vers

Urgent Autobiographies

This chapter develops on topics explored in the seminar the author has curated and facilitated for the Global Photographies Network in late 2021 entitled ‘Urgent Stories: Lived Experiences of a Changing planet', bringing together photography and arts practice, eco-philosophy, science and literature. Whilst the six-day seminar series looked to address the question of ‘What climate collapse asks of us?', this chapter looks to build a cohesive understanding of how photographic practice can respond to environmental change by focusing on ecological awareness and storytelling in autobiography- and lived experienced-based work. Drawing from the photographic work of seminar participants, the chapter weaves the elements of memory, archive, and relationship between oral storytelling and photographs into this discussion. Consequently, this chapter argues that storytelling based on first person accounts of ecology and change is not only a valuable tool in climate action, but urgent work in shaping heightened ecological consciousness

Dream Memory

A poem about memory and how it affects the present and future