nov. '24 (#8)

low battery mode // power-shift

hello!

how have the last few weeks been for you?

i’ve been experiencing a lot of changes.

and when change happens, often it ripples out.

i’ve wondered about this very newsletter, where it’s heading, how to be more present with it. i love writing about art. could i write more? could i share more about my own life? even if it seems not much is going on?

sometimes i feel like the best and/ or most profound moments in my life come in the form of observing animals and nature. suddenly uncovering a small mouse who had been sheltering underneath some old cardboard i’d been using for spray painting. or witnessing a robin taking a shit. or seeing how a spider moves on my hand.

there’s an odd abundance there. it’s not so much in the form of doing; but, observing. seeing how i relate to the world around me, even on a smaller scale.

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so what’s been in my orbit this month?

jefre cantu-ledesma’s song ‘tenderness’. this is powerful stuff!! i recommend watching and listening simultaneously. i haven’t been so riveted and captured by a song in this way in some time. it’s not just that it’s multi-faceted; but, that it seems to move forward as a song through time in a way that seems so effortless and yet deeply deliberate. (cantu-ledesma’s work is relatively new to me, and i’m so glad i stumbled upon it!)

the beauty and power of sheela na gig’s — yes, there is a song of this name by pj harvey and would deffo recommend listening (and to the whole album) but this offering is mainly to point you to the historical medieval carvings… like, wow! big vagina energy, to quote someone that isn’t me. don’t sleep on these — an amazing lens through which to read shifts in perception of female sexuality throughout history. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/08/big-vagina-energy-the-return-of-the-sheela-na-gig

frank o’hara’s poem ‘a true account of talking to the sun at fire island’. a stunning poem and visually electric. with a voice that is wonderfully colloquial. also, one of my favourite endings of any poem. i read this in my own collection i got off the secondhand book internet; but you can access it here. https://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/ohara/TrueAccount.html

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are any of these new to you? one, two, maybe all of them?

i personally love coming across new things, or things i maybe heard about or saw or listened to a long time ago and then forgot about.

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what’s been in your orbit this month? do you return to the old and familiar, or seek out new things?

my dance with art (inspiration, integration, influence)

personally i find it hard to have that kapow! moment with new things. but when it does happen, it’s deeply meaningful because it feels so rare. often the more meaningful experiences i have with art are repetitive. like sea forming rock, making its mark, shaping something over & over.

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as an artist who has spent a lot of time cultivating right relationship with the world and with myself, and who finds this just as important as making art, if not sometimes more important, looking to the works of other artists is terribly vital.

art is, to me, living and breathing! afire, aflame! it makes life better, it expands you when you need expanding, or it meets you where you are.

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as i focus more on making my own work and sharing it with the world, more so than when i started this newsletter in april, i expect things will evolve.

i’m currently feeling into that delicate space where you wish to be deeply present and alive to this very moment but also recognise the power of foresight.

anyway. i told myself this would be a low power mode newsletter but the thrill of art has given me juice. metaphorical mountain dew.

blessings to you, dear reader, i hope you are well and i wish you all the happiness and joy… and hope. of course, hope.

angelica xxxxxx