common assets
needed to scan some construction paper to use as a digital background and thought about all the times i’ve scanned materials for textures and saved the files into specific project folders — a one way ticket to a digital black hole.
hadn’t considered making a digital catch all until the other day. now i have a “common assets” folder for all the ticky-tacky pieces that get used in all sorts of different ways. so far i’ve only scanned construction paper… but it’s gonna grow!
typing that name, common assets, i couldn’t help but think of it in the context of marriage. common assets: the car, the apartment, the record collection, the cat… as icky as it makes me feel to consider describing things in order to litigate over them; i do like the sound of it: common assets. i like the way the two words look side-by side — the humps of the m’s and n in the first leading into the squiggles of s’s in the second. i think it would make a good name for a restaurant or bar. just saw that there’s a company called uncommon goods… bwah
then, i thought to myself: “where does your digital miscellanea live?” a place for videos and articles and music that i encounter and find helpful or resonate in some way, or that provide motivation or perspective. the last several days have yielded inclusions into the digital library of common assets:
on Saturday i joined a virtual discussion about the work of quilter Rosie Lee Tompkins presented by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and Ms. Ora Clay spoke about quilting and the work of Ms. Rosie Lee Tompkins. i hadn’t familiarized myself with either speaker before attending, which has its benefits and drawbacks. i didn’t want to form any preconceived notions of what they would speak about or who they were from static representations. and for that, i’m ok with my decision to “under-prepare”. Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi was a force. there were a few things that she said during the discussion that pierced deeply and i am grateful to have been witness to her presentation. one point she emphasized was the importance of the creator’s voice in their work. Rosie Lee Tompkins left no interpretation or writings about her own work which is a loss for the diasporic quilting community. hearing Dr. Mazloomi speak to the notion of being the voice for your own work motivated me to continue doing what i’m doing.
on Sunday i watched a video suggested by the Youtubes featuring cinematographer Brad Rushing speaking about doing the work, success, and the power of listening. i wasn’t familiar with Mr. Rushing before, but looked him up after starting the video and learned that he was the cinematographer for Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ music video. wait, what?! another instance of uncanny timing having just watched ‘Framing Britney Spears’. sure, there’s no doubt something algorithmically driving this content to me — that’s life now. but what Mr. Rushing has to say about creativity still rings true.
‘MAGDALENE’ - FKA twigs (2019) creative direction Matthew Josephs, design by Matthew Stone
i also listened to FKA twigs’ ‘MAGDALENE’ for the first time. not unlike LA Priest’s ‘GENE’, i’d been saving this album for the “perfect time” to listen. years have gone by and i was too ashamed and nervous to listen to it. twigs’ music hits a sensitive spot, and i didn’t think i was ready to go there. but i did, and i love it. holy sh-t, like really love it. which isn’t a surprise, i enjoy her work very much. i don’t know why i do this to myself…
yesterday morning i browsed for a podcast to listen to while taking a shower, and saw the latest episode of This American Life entitled ‘Secrets’. it’s a doozy, and another uncanny arrival.
i thought, “what do we do with our common assets that are not commonly known?” everyone has secrets. what do you do when you have shared secrets? or if you are the secret?
the episode discusses embarrassment, shame, and the feeling that you should be able to handle your secrets on your own. yeah, this one was important to listen to right now. one of the statements that went straight to the marrow was this one:
“telling my story has opened up a lot for me, especially with the people i’m closest to. but telling is a beginning, not an end. it’s not a solution… it doesn’t release you from shame. to release yourself from shame, you need to understand where the shame comes from. telling alone doesn’t get you there, but it puts you in conversation with people who can help.” - Susan Burton
and this:
“i never lied, i neglected to tell the truth. that’s how secrets are made.” - Pavan Bivigou
Susan is speaking to the secrecy around eating disorders, and Pavan about keeping her sickle-cell anemia a secret. even though these are two things that i don’t have experience with, i do know what it’s like to keep a secret… and these stories were incredibly helpful to add perspective to that understanding.
last night i watched this discussion between Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet. it’s old, i know; but i like Daniel Kaluuya’s work, and Timothée Chalamet’s even though i feel a growing gulf of disconnection from his generation. i’ve watched a few others in this series, and they can feel stuffy and forced. but this one felt so fun and energetic. it felt like both of these artists were genuinely interested and excited to be in conversation and learn from one another’s experiences.
i really appreciated what Daniel had to say about reading scripts and why he reads them: in part to better understand why he likes something so that he’s better informed as to why he says “yes” or “no” to projects. using it as a tool to know himself better.
gem dropping… so good…
that’s it for now. i am hoping that this space can be a useful library for videos and music and books and all the stuff that flies through while i’m working. i have some patches to sew a merrow border onto, so…
ok, bye bye!