CULTURE
INTERVIEWS
HISTORY
OPINION
ART
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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Mar Ibanez MAGAZINE DESIGN
Elle Miller / Mina Bach CORPORATE DESIGN
Mina Bach
ISSUE I TEAM
MORE INFO ON the TEAM: HEDYMAG.COM for advertising or inquiries, contact: hello@hedymag.com The opinions expressed in the ARTICLES are the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of HEDY MAGAZINE.. THE MAGAZINE should not be held accountable for the AUTHORS’ opinion. copyright is reserved. images and texts rights belong to their authors.
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WRITERS
Cara Dumont
Lana Dena
Eva Melgarejo
Leonie Vermeer
Kate Anderson
Emilio Lanzas
Susana Meza
Carla Auden
Gloria Esteve
Ulrike Uelzen
Celia Borrull
Laura Gomez
ILLUSTRATIONS
TRANSLATIONS
PHOTOS
Chus Lopez
Gloria Esteve
Angel Salguero
Laura Gomez
John Slatex
Oscar Xarrie
Gloria Esteve
Ulrike Uelzen
Angels Alcaide
Kat Kon
illustration BY KAT KON
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Inside Issue I
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PENDLE WITCHES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
“Choose Your Poison
8 Hedy Lamarr
Info Pills / page 6 Un Jour À Paris / page 22 Video Games / page 30 Travelling Europe / page 34 Let’s Talk About Hair/ page 42 Books We Are Reading/ page 44 A Call For Rev-O-Lution / page 46 Greyish Tones / page 48 Paradise City / page 50 Short Fiction: Little girl / page 52
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26 DUTCH PAINTERS
MARTHA RICH
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WINTER IS JUST A COLD SUMMER
EDITORIAL
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elcome to our first issue! This magazine is a work of love by writers, illustrators and photographers from around the world. We aim to create a magazine for women, assuming that we all have brains and care about more (things) than just our looks. We love talking about art, books, politics, history...
And giving exposure to many inspirational women that sadly don’t always get the attention they deserve. There are many articles and interesting bits for you to read and get involved in. If you finish reading the magazine and want more, we are taking the discussion to our blog until the next issue. Come and say hello. If you like this issue feedback is welcome! We are very proud this number is
out. Everyone has worked a lotto make it happen. Half of our writers, photographers, designers and illustrators are open to freelance work, you can contact any of them via our website. We’ve already started working in the next issue. Drop us a line if you want to collaborate with us. See you in the blog!
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Info Pills
Poltergeist Remake A remake of the 80s horror classic is in the making and is expected to hit the big screen in July. The new film is a collaboration between filmmaker Sam Raimi and director Gil Kenan.
Cocoppa
Secret Society Of Paper Arts & crafts has never been this funny. This society releases travelling journals full of paper tutorials. Funny adventures and eye candy, all on paper or as a pdf version. Download a copy to join.
Serial season two The succesful podcast will have a second season. But the featured story will be a new one. If you haven’t yet listened to this mysterious real-life case you can do so for free on the official site.
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Easy to use app to change the look of your phone icons. It works with both iPhone and Android devices. It also features backgrounds, all designed by its users. Thousands of icon designs available. You can even design and upload your own.
Twin Peaks to return in David Lynch’s masterpiece will be back next year. When Laura said “I will see you again in 25 years” she wasn’t lying. Laura will be back on the show, with agent Cooper, Bobby and Leland among other names in the cast.
Ba Ba Dum Want to gain vocabulary in any language? Then you will love this! Pick a language and start playing Ba Ba Dum. A super addictive learning game. All you have to do is point and click.
Neila Rey On this website we can find lots of free workouts inspired by tv shows and films (from Sherlock to The Hunger Games) as well as motivational quotes and nutrition advice. If being healthier is one of your 2015 resolutions this will be a good help.
Manic Street Preachers US Manic Street Preachers will be touring the US and Canada in April and early May. It will be a small tour that will take them to a few cities: Chicago, New York, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. The gigs will conmemorate the 20th anniversary of their masterpiece album The Holy Bible. This year also marks a sad anniversary for the band. Twenty years ago, on February 1st 1995, Richey Edwards a member of the band (lyricist and second guitar), went missing hours before a promotional trip to the US. His whereabouts are still a mystery.
Alice In Wonderland This year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll!
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Hedy Lemarr AN ARTICLE ABOUT THE MUSE BEHIND OUR NAME IS SOMETHING WE CAN’T SKIP. GLORIA TELLS US EVERYTHING ABOUT THE HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY WHO INVENTED WI-FI
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edwig Eva Maria Kiesler, who’d later go the fascist jet set enjoyed at the Mandl’s castle in by the name Hedy Lamarr, was born Austria, as well as the many business conferences on November 9 1914 in Vienna, the then capital she attended as her hubby’s plus one, that Hedy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now merely (still Hedwig, then) was first introduced to the capital of Austria). Born to be wild, she shocked fascinating world of military technology. But European audiences when, in 1933 and at just 19 Fritz wasn’t at all into her wife being an actress, years of age, she appeared nude—whilst faking or into her leaving the house very much at all an orgasm in a close-up really, and she was thus shot, among others—in a living life as a proverbial “SHE SHOCKED EUROPEAN Czech film called Ecstasy. Rapunzel imprisoned AUDIENCES WHEN, IN 1933 The movie was rather in Schloß Schwarzenau, AND AT JUST 19 YEARS OF AGE, scandalous, so in order to Austria. Hedwig had had SHE APPEARED NUDE—WHILST subdue the whole affair a just about enough, so FAKING AN ORGASM IN A bit, she went and married she —again, as you do— CLOSE-UP SHOT” a stinking rich Austrian slipped the maid a roofie arms dealer, as you do. (or several), put on her Fritz Mandl was a half Jew who was good pals clothes to impersonate her, fled her husband with Hitler and Mussolini—they never failed and took off to Paris.The story doesn’t end there, to purchase the odd tonne of munition or two. of course. In Paris, Hedwig met Louis B. Mayer It was during the many opulent dinner parties (a.k.a. cofounder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
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who thought she was fab, suggested she drop the name and change it to “Hedy Lamarr” and took her to Hollywood where he advertised her as “the world’s most beautiful woman”. Hedy soon became an established box-office belle (“Any girl can look glamorous — just stand still and look stupid!”) in the 1940s, being invariably cast as a continental sultry temptress. With World War II raging overseas, she’d grown bored of Hollywood and felt restless and eager to do something. Hedy knew some things about military engineering. She’d spent four years apparently playing arm candy to an arms dealer who supplied Nazi Germany and had regularly met up with various fascist leaders and scientists, but as it so happens, she had been paying 10
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attention to what was being said too. Hedy knew about torpedoes. They could be either controlled by wire or by radio control. Radio control would have been ideal if it wasn’t for the fact that a signal broadcast on one frequency was absolutely unreliable, as it could easily get intercepted or would without fail catch interferences which would then disrupt the course of the torpedo. So she came up with the idea of a signal that would hop intermittently between frequencies, with both the transmitter and the receiver synchronised so that they’d be sharing the entire signal while third parties listening in on a certain frequency would only get the odd blip out of many. Hedy, however, didn’t know how to actually put her idea into practi-
ce. In comes George Antheil, a multifaceted genius avant-garde futurist pianist and also Hedy’s neighbour in California. Antheil was a sort of Brian Eno of his time and had come up with all sorts of innovative gizmos in order to Make Music Differently—among which was a little invention that had allowed him to come up with a way of getting a piano to play automatically. It basically consisted of a paper roll with slots on 88 different places (corresponding to the number of keys in a piano) that’d prompt the different keys to play during a certain number of beats. If the transmitter and the receiver were equipped with the same sequence of ‘jumps’ and triggered off at the same time, they’d stay in sync during broadcast. And so
frequency hopping was born. Hedy and George Antheil got a patent in 1942. And… that’s it. The U.S. Navy decided, so to speak, to pass (because, honestly, how was taking seriously an invention penned by an eccentric bohemian pianist and a Hollywood starlet not a stretch, gentlemen!) To add insult to injury, when Hedy requested to join the National Inventors Council, she was told she should sell War Bonds if she wanted to help. Frequency-hopping technology to keep torpedoes on course wasn’t used until 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the patent had already expired. Hedy’s career in Hollywood progressively declined until it became practically non-existent in the 1960s, a fact exacerbated by a spell of shoplifting or two that
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got through to the tabloids and an autobiography gone that went slightly wrong (do avoid ghost writers if the situation ever arises, ladies). She became increasingly secluded, and as her health started to fail, she moved to Florida, where she died aged 85 in 2000. Frequency hopping, however, went on to become the basis of many of today’s wireless technologies, and Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil were finally included in the Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2014. So thank you, Hedy, for being so fucking remarkable and clever, for having contributed to the existence of wireless internet and for letting us borrow your Hollywood epithet for our magazine.
WORDS BY GLORIA ESTEVE. PHOTOS PUBLIC DOMAIN
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The Pendle witches THE PENDLE WITCH TRIALS, ARE PART OF THE DARK HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND ONE OF THE WORST CASES OF WITCH HUNTS IN EUROPE
WORDS BY ULRIKE UELZEN. illustrations public domain. pendle photo by dr greg
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“ PENDLE BECAME THE SITE OF ONE OF THE WORST WITCH HUNTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS
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he summer of 2012 saw strange goingson in the usually quiet Lancashire countryside around Pendle Hill: the unveiling of a life-sized statue of a woman called Alice Nutter, a procession of 482 people dressed up as witches going up the hill (a world record, actually), and the display of the date “1612” on the hillside, visible throughout the valley. This last event even managed to upset the Bishop of Burnley, Rev. John Goddard. Witches taking over a quiet English village, a mysterious woman with a strange name, and the church being concerned about it all – no, this is not a lost Neil-Gamain-novelplot, this all happened three years ago while we weren’t watching (wish Neil made it a novel, though!). So what lies behind it all? Where does it all begin? Well, the question is rather: when, and that takes us straight back to 1612. In 1612 Lancashire and the Forest of Pendle had a sinister reputation: poor, sparsely populated and re-
mote, the area was thought to be inhabited by rough, near-enough lawless people. Most people were poor and had no education at all. They clung to the old traditions handed down for generations when it came to running their villages and religious matters. Official law did exist, but very often it was abused to settle old feuds, and frequently it was by-passed for mob justice. Official religion as decreed by King James I was the protestant Anglican church, which people had to attend by law, but often people secretly attended Catholic mass. Superstition and belief in ghosts and witchcraft was deeply ingrained in village life, and it is before this background that in 1612 the parish of Whalley in Pendle became the site of one of the worst witch hunts in the history of the British Islands. John Law was a pedlar, a medieval door-to-door tradesman, and March 18th 1612 turned out to be the day disaster struck him down: as he was walking just outside Colne
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in Pendle Forest he came across was on. One thing that makes pacts with the devil. She also Alizon Device, who asked him this case special is the ease with accused Anne Whittle, known for a few pins. Law refused the which JP Roger Nowell obtai- as Old Chattox, the more than request, which enraged Alizon ned confessions – Alizon her- 80-year-old matriarch of a riso much that she cursed him. self confessed straight away to val family. Both families, the Within minutes John Law su- having cursed Law, and also Chattoxes as well as Alizon’s, which was led by ffered a stroke from her grandmo“ALIZON HERSELF CONFESSED which he was nether Elizabeth ver to recover. His STRAIGHT AWAY TO HAVING Southerns, also in family filed a comCURSED LAW, AND ALSO her eighties and plaint about John ADMITTED TO HAVING SOLD HER known as Old Dehaving been harSOUL TO THE DEVIL” mdike (“demonic med by witchcraft with the local Justice of the admitted to having sold her crone”) had much in common: Peace (JP) and in the atmos- soul to the devil, and she ac- even the younger members phere of persecuting religious cused various other members were extremely poor and exheretics that was gripping Lan- of her family of similar acts of cluded from village society and cashire the accusations were harmful magic, carrying out made their living from a mix being taken serious. The hunt disturbing rituals, and having of small-time (respectable)
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work, begging, and cunningwork or “white” witchcraft. This mostly consisted of herbal medicine and spells to ward off evil or attract good things, such as love, prosperity, fertility. However, such cunning folk were often feared as much as respected and with the rise of Protestantism the official church turned against them even more fiercely than before, on a mission to weed out superstition. And there is no doubt that the Chattox and Demdike clans were not very popular in Pendle Forest, even if needed at times. Misogyny, fear of their supposed powers,
and changing times all partly account for why those two families were so readily condemned by their communities. But there is more to it yet, and that is shown in the belligerent and malicious ways in which they accused one another – family against family, brother against sister, daughter against mother. Some of the accounts are certainly dismissable, despite being made freely, as being made by feeble-minded witnesses: Alizon Device’s brother James was mentally disabled by today’s standards, Anne Whittle and Elizabeth Southern would probably count as suffe-
FICTION Most fictional treatments of the case seem to get hideous reviews – just do a quick search for The Daylight Gate to get a taste – but two works that seem to stand up to scrutiny are the novella Malkin Child by Livi Michael and the novel Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. In fact, they are on my reading list, now. For a proper, long-winded classic from a writer once thought to be on par with Charles Dickens, try The Lancashire Witches by William Harrison Ainsworth.
ring from dementia. Jennet Device, whose evidence was crucial in sending her family to the gallows, was only 9 years old. And still – Alizon at least believed in her confession, and she seems to have deliberately brought others down with her. The accusations and counteraccusations of the families soon led to the arrest to be put on trial for Alizon Device herself, her grandmother Elizabeth Southerns, as well as Anne Whittle and her daughter Elizabeth Redferne – all of which now stood accused of causing death by witchcraft, a crime punishable by hanging. At this point something caught JP Nowell’s interest that was to transform a local tragedy sparked off by a pedlar suffering a stroke at just the wrong moment into the witch trial which alone accounts for 2 percent of all executions for witchcraft in England: On Good Friday 1612 the Demdike family hosted a supper for a group of family and supporters at their family home called Malkin Tower. Well, at least it has been claimed that they did, and that James Device stole a sheep for it (sheep-rustling would have been enough to condemn him
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to the gallows). Now eight more people stood accused: Device, James Device, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, Alice Gray, Jennet Preston from Yorkshire, and Alice Nutter, whose statue we encountered above. Not only were they accused of witchcraft in general, but crucially of a conspiracy to try and blow up Lancaster Castle by magic. They too were now awaiting trial in Lancaster Castle gaol. The trial itself was not short of tragedy: blind, confused and frail Elizabeth Southerns died at Lancaster Castle, cheating her persecutors of the chance to see her hang. Many of the accused, especially those implied in the improbable meeting at Malkin Tower, desperately pleaded their innocence, but to no avail. Nine-year-old Jennet Device calmly asked for her mother to be removed from the courtroom, so that she could give her witness statement, condemning her family to the gallows, without being interrupted by her mother’s desperate sobs. In the end only Alice Gray was found not guilty. Jennet Preston was hung at Knavesmire (at the site of York Race Course), Yorkshire on 27th July 1612. Alizon Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Whittle, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock and Jane Bulcock were hung at Gallows Hill, Lancaster on August 20th 1612. There is still dispute amongst historians today as to what really happened at Pendle Forest in 1612. The most likely scenario is a mixture of mass hysteria and a family feud gone bad, leading to the destruction of THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES: A CHRONICLE OF SORCERY AND DEATH ON PENDLE HILL BY PHILIP C ALMOND
Readable and profound analysis of the trials, even though his conclusion about the Malkin Tower meeting is a bit daring. Very useful chronology. THE WONDERFUL DISCOVERY OF WITCHES IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER: MODERNISED AND INTRODUCED BY ROBERT POOLE BY THOMAS POTTS
If you like your history dry and factual and with every little bit of of known info available, our man Robert’s collection of essays is your thing. Plus, he modernised and republished the original witch trial pamphlet. Hero!
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two families and a lot of people around them. But that does not explain why Jennet Device would hate her family so much that she would behave as she did, even if she had been taught her statements by court officials eager to win favour with a political elite obsessed with witchcraft – King James I himself had written a demonology. Many of the accused were Catholics, and the meeting at Malkin Tower again fits with a paranoid political class in an unpopular county trying to uncover another Gunpowder Plot to impress the court in London. So local events
A PETITION TO JACK STRAW TO POSTHUMOUSLY PARDON THE PENDLE WITCHES WAS REJECTED
gone out of control? Political spin? Most likely an unhealthy mixture of both that lead to the death of many innocent people, or at least not guilty of anything more than – in the case of the Demdikes and Chattoxes – being poor and unlikeable. There is a coda: In 1998 a petition to the then home secretary Jack Straw to posthumously pardon
the Pendle Witches was rejected, likewise a similar petition to pardon Elizabeth Southern (Old Demdike) and Anne Whittle (Old Chattox) started ten years later. Apparently it easier to erect statues, encourage dress-up and use “our witches” to encourage heritage tourism than to face up to the injustices of the past.
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These days the county of Lancashire is mighty proud of its witches, and does a lot to promote the sites associated with them. Info for visitors, including suggested walks, museums and touristy paraphernalia can be found her. The statue of of Alice Nutter in Roughlee remains a bit of a mystery: according to the village’s endearing website it’s located “on Blacko Bar Road between Crowtrees and Roughlee”. Nevermind them sticking her on the main road through the village instead of the centre – google streetview fails to show her. Maybe witches are invisible on google? Let’s head to Roughlee and find out! (And ask down the pub why they don’t put her in the village centre if they love her so much, now?)
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Alice Nutter is also thought to have lived in Roughlee Old Hall, a building which is also supposedly haunted by her. Coming down Blacko Bar Road from the village centre towards Crowtrees (hunting for the elusive Alice statue), look out to your right for Old Hall Close. The building you see at the end of the little lane is the hall. Stopping briefly for a picture should be acceptable, but PLEASE be respectful, as this is a private home, and IF you are disrespectful, do NOT under any circumstances mention us. Enjoy exploring!
Hedy’s Soundtrack Issue I Sue Or In A Season Of Crime by David Bowie There’s a Girl in the Corner by The Twilight Sad Hesitating Beauty by Wilco RUN by Kill It Kid WICKED GAME by Gemma Hayes Mirror Monster by Deerhoof Zombie by The Coathangers Easy Money by Johnny Marr Body Betrays Itself by Pharmakon
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A day in Paris LAURA LEFT HER HOMETOWN TO LIVE IN PARIS SHE’S NOW OUR GUIDE TO SOME NICE PLACES IN THIS MAGIC CITY
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taring our day in Paris, we visit Montmartre. This neighbourhood, once quite bohemian, is now full of tourists (though it still hides some lovely places). We have breakfast at Milk. This small restaurant looks like a dollhouse, full of lovely objects and delicious jams! We then visit some quaint shops, such as the Marché SaintPierre (a building with lots of floors dedicated to selling precious fabrics). Inevitably we won’t leave without at least a few samples. The street is a paradise for those who love sewing, and has more fabric stores to browse. The next shop, Belle de Jour, is a gem. The luxurious perfume bottles are a dream! All beautifully painted and elegant, there’s many different shapes to chose from. Looking from the window you can admire the variety of bottles. Also, within the store, there’s a miniature of the facade.Most French restaurants close their kitchen after lunch, so if you’ve not eaten by 14:30, I recommend trying something different in Japantown. At the Aki Restaurant, the spe-
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ciality is Okonomiyaki. It’s a dough with various ingredients (flour, egg, onion, mochi and cheese) eaten with a choice of meat, squid or vegetables, all grilled and served within a rich sauce. A dish that will fill us with energy to continue the ride! This neighbourhood is great for lovers of all things oriental. The library Book-Off is unmissable! Books, CDs, video games and Japanese films starting at two euros, a store to spend hours browsing. Totally recommended for lovers of manga and craft books. Also, for those who want to improve their French, their sister store is located opposite. There’s many museums in Paris worth visiting, one that’s highly recommended is the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Found in the first quarter, it’s part of the building of the Louvre. A great place to wander, its rooms are filled with antique furniture, tableware and hosts an entire collection of iconic design objects. If you still have time in the afternoon, we can visit the familiar tenth quarter, and, weather permitting, we
WANDER ALONG THE CANAL SAINT MARTIN, A QUIET AND FRIENDLY PLACE THAT KEEPS THE PARISIAN CHARM
can wander along the Canal Saint Martin, a quiet and friendly place that keeps the Parisian charm. Paris has many passages ideal for shelter when it rains, so before dark we’ll check out Joffrey passage. This place is full of cute little shops and features Pain d’Epice, a shop dedicated to toys and millions of precious miniatures! As we’re staying in the ninth district, we’ll have dinner at the Bouillon Chartier. A typical French restaurant, it’s gigantic, delicious and cheap. And before we arrive at the hotel and finish this day so intense, we’ll take the subway to the Trocadero. There we’ll observe the romantic Eiffel Tower, and watch out for its sparkling lights that blink once an hour.
MILK 62 Rue d’Orsel MARCHÉ SAINT-PIERRE 2 Rue Charles Nodier BELLE DE JOUR 7 Rue Tardieu AKI 11 Rue Sainte-Anne BOOK-OFF 29-31 rue Saint-Augustin MUSÉE - LOUVRE 107 Rue de Rivoli PAIN D’ÉPICES 29 Passage Jouffroy BOUILLON CHARTIER 7 Rue du Faubourg
WORDS AND ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA GOMEZ TRANSLATION BY JOHN SLATEX
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Dutch women painters As a lover of art and especially paintings leo had some questions, and after research she found some answers
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re there no great female artists in Dutch history? Yes, there are! Are they hushed up? I believe so. Are the only women who had something to do with art the nude models or muses who are shown in the paintings? No! Those are the answers that I found. Was art made by women by definition “craft”? A craft considered inferior to real “art”? After seeing some work of female Dutch painters (some I only came across by accident) I came to the conclusion that they are certainly no less great than the works of let’s say Rembrandt, Vermeer and my favourite painter Van Gogh. In the 19th century 1100 women practised fine arts in the Netherlands. Most of these women were
forgotten after death. The art world was rather unfavourable to women and painting was seen as a leisure activity for wealthy ladies. A professional career was reserved for only a few. Female painters can be split in two categories: a considerable group of ladies from the upper classes and the bourgeoisie who during their upbringing had learned how to draw and paint. They practised the art as a hobby. In addition there was a larger group of women who had developed as a professional artist and sold their work to generate an income. A solid art training was of great importance for all these women. But that wasn’t easy because the art schools traditionally did not admit woHEDY
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men. The main reason was that art schools required their students to produce drawings of live nude male models: it was considered this was not morally appropriate for women. But in 1871 the “Rijksakademie” of Fine Arts, as one of the first art academies in Europe, allowed female students. A woman who wanted to build a professional practice in the 19th century had to combine her artistic practice with social expectations. In the first place she had to be a dedicated wife and mother. As this combination was not easy, many female artists married late or not at all, and many also remained childless. These women artists needed perseverance to compete and keep up with the prevailing standards of the art establishment. Exhibitions of masters organized annually between 1808-1917 in various cities in the Netherlands formed the gateway to the world of art for female artists. Only towards the end of the century art buyers, dealers and museums were often in personal contact with them. Being a professional, commercial artist revealed a possibility for a woman to provide for a part of her own livelihood. Although in recent years female artists have been exposed through publications and exhibitions,most female painters were forgotten. The problem of their neglected position in the art world is occasionally touched, but a comprehensive study of the position and development of Dutch female artists is still missing! I will introduce you to four Dutch female painters and their beautiful work – hopefully they will NOT be forgotten. And I leave you readers to decide whether theirs is art or not.
1 Maria Van Oisterwijck - VANITAS STILL LIFE 2 Rachel Ruysch - FRUITS AND INSECTS 3 Judith Leyster - FLOWERS IN A VASE 4 Annie Caroline Toorop - PORTRET VAN DE DRIE KINDEREN JELGERSMA
WORDS BY LEONIE VERMEER
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Video games for people who don’t like video games DO YOU KNOW ANY VIDEO GAME WITH RIOT GRRL BANDS IN THE SOUNDTRACK? OR ONE TO PLAY AN INMIGRATION OFFICER? CELIA KNOWS THEM ALL!
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still vividly remember the first time my family bought a video game console. One of my older brother’s friends had lent him an early Atari console for the weekend with a bunch of heavilypixelated loudly-beeping games. By Monday it was clear that we needed one. Some weeks later on a Saturday morning, the four of us took the train from our seaside suburb town right to the centre of Barcelona. We bought a Nintendo NES for what was a small fortune for my family at the time, along with the first Super Mario Bros on the staff ’s recommendation and a game called Skate Or Die! because my brother liked the punk guy in it. Playing video games soon became a family activity. After school and during weekends we sat around the screen and took turns at clearing the levels, I was only five or six at the time and an awful player, but my Dad and brother dutifully handed the pad when it was my turn, even though I always had to be Luigi. Together we solved Maniac Mansion’s puzzles, got frustra-
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ted with Rygar and laughed with Monkey Island. However, being a teenager during the peak of the Playstation era only a alienated me from the gaming culture. I wasn’t interested in bestselling franchises and couldn’t relate to the shooters, action or sports games that became massively popular. Suddenly video games felt like they weren’t made for me and I recalled with nostalgia the age of graphic adventures and simple platformers. Luckily we have come a long way and even though mainstream commercial games are still dominated by the same franchises, the spectrum of games has widened extraordinarily with the emergence of independent, or indie, games. Indie games first appeared in the early 1990s but it wasn’t until the mid 2000s that the number of titles began to escalate quickly. This surge has been mainly due to to the appearance of toolkits that make developing games for consoles and mobile phones easier, made available by the major manufacturers themselves but also by independent
third parties like Unity. Over the last five years the indie game scene has exploded, with their own trade shows, awards, documentaries and an ever growing number of studios worldwide. Aside from being present in PCs and smartphones, popular titles are being made available for their consoles by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. The availability of technical resources and the possibilities for self publishing that the internet offers have made possible that people from different backgrounds can now make and sell their own games in a DIY spirit similar to that of zine makers, bringing a fresh and new perspective to games. As opposed to mainstream commercial games, indie games are deeply personal and draw inspiration from a whole new range of themes and experiences. As a result minorities are exceedingly becoming represented in games that touch upon issues such as queer culture, feminism, mental illness or politics. At the same time, innovation in storytelling and gameplay mechanics have been sending waves through the traditional gaming community, not always open to allowing these new forms of games being brought up into the scene. But for those of us who have been dissatisfied with commercial video games and even for those who have never been interested in them, the appearance of a new range of games is a welcome revolution.
WORDS BY CELIA BORRULL
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Our favourite games! Papers, Please A critics and fan favourite, Papers, Please is set in the dystopian country of Arstotzka, which has recently opened its borders after years of political tension. You play as a newly appointed immigration officer and your task is to review the documents of anyone attempting to enter the country and grant or deny their entrance accordingly. Papers, Please is emotionally draining and presents serious moral dilemmas. As you advance in the game you’ll be torn between dutifully doing your job and accepting bribes that can pay for your family’s bills, all this while trying not to empathise with the applicant’s circumstances.
80 Days A text-based adventure based on the famous novel by Jules Verne and set in a steampunk world, 80 Days is what you always dreamed choose-your-ownadventure books would be. You play as Passepartout, Phileas Fogg’s valet and personal assistant in his race around the world. Setting off from London, you are faced with several course of actions to choose from through each stage of the trip. The impeccable writing on the game and the wide range of options available on the routes will keep you coming back to it and completing the game several times through.
Monument Valley One of the most aesthetically pleasing games of 2014. Developed by indie studio Ustwo, Monument Valley is a 3D puzzle game with optical illusions reminiscent of Escher’s famous drawings. Simple interaction with the background will unfold impossible stairs, change planes and rearrange corridors allowing Princess Ida to advance to the goal at each stage, while immersing the player in a beautifully soothing world.
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Gone Home Gone Home is a story-driven exploration game that takes place completely inside a house. You play as a young woman who returns to her family home after a year abroad to find a seemingly empty house with no one to receive her. Despite the very unsettling feelings that this empty house provokes in the player, there is no action in the whole game. Instead you will find objects and mementos left behind by your family that will allow you to discover the story of this past year in their lives, mainly through your sister’s notes and diary entries. The soundtrack made up by Riot Grrrl tapes that you find around the house is a big plus.
Mountain Described as an “ambient procedural game�, Mountain is what one could call a mountain simulator developed by David OReilly, best known as the artist behind the holographic video game that appears in the movie HER. The game starts by generating a floating mountain and offers a somewhat existential gaming experience, in which you interact with nature and objects that eventually make their way into your mountain. Mountain is a relaxing and intriguing game, there are no goals or tasks, simply watch over your mountain and ask yourself why are you feeling melancholic about a bunch of virtual rocks.
illustration by chus lopez
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Travelling Europe Angels travels around Europe with her camera She shares some of her inspirations with us
CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY you get great pictures from a hot-air balloon!
ROME, ITALY Statue hunting could be a hobby itself
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TENBY, WALES Boats look nicer than people
POOLEWE, SCOTLAND lakes give you a nice palette of colours
PARIS, FRANCE Architecture can be an asset to your pictures
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA History is something to have in mind PHOTOS BY ANGELS ALCAIDE
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Martha Rich Susana talks to martha rich about her art, projects , inspiration and social media
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nce you said something along the lines that you wanted your art to be like a Louis CK stand-up, I thought that was a very refreshing statement, and I just want to start by saying thank you for making art fun for a change. Your life has been filled with seminal experiences, but what was the moment that made you decide to reset your life and be a full time artist? After a series of mundane and life-changing events that began when I was born, I was in a classroom and my teachers Rob and Christian Clayton pulled me aside and told me I could do it. For some reason it was a that moment in time I believed them. You do so many things, the drawing club in the train, teaching, art shows, apparel... How do you keep your art activity so constant?
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I am a naturally lazy person but I am also not very tolerant of things I don’t like to do. I worked in corporate America for 15 years and the thought of going back to a cubicle is a HUGE motivation to keep the art activity going. HUGE I tell ya! I assign myself fun projects to do and they always seem to lead to something else that is fun to do. I have to keep the momentum going so I don’t have to wear pantyhose in a cubicle again. I am not good at working for the man. You strike me as a beach/street comber, if you are, which have been one of your best finds? Do you collect anything? While I do love combing the beach and the streets, I am more of an experience collector these days. This is because when I was packing for my move from Pasadena to Philadelphia my hoarding tendencies were shoved in my face. It
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was kind of embarrassing when I found a dead, flattened, dried out mouse amongst my vintage magazines and ephemera. So these days I don’t go to estate sales or junk shops anymore and instead go to weird or cool places like the Space Acorn in Kecksburg, PA or to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills or Wild Blueberry Land in Columbia Falls, Maine. I do collect magnets from my travels though. Any advise to those of us trying to break away from the cubicle, is it possible to be a cubicle artist? Yes it is possible! When I was first trying to be an illustrator I worked for Baxter Healthcare. They do scientific things and make machines that take the platelets out of your blood. I met interesting scientists there. My boss had books on her shelf that had pictures of gross diseases. The worst was a picture of a giant worm being pulled from someone’s knee. The best art comes from daily life. My friend Julie Murphy created some of the funniest art while she also was working at a Healthcare Corp. was a picture of a giant worm being pulled from someone’s knee. The best art comes from daily life. You are active in social media and rarely post the same thing in the different platforms you use, how do you balance social media use and your art work? YES! It gives me more control over my own career. I don’t have to rely on someone else publicizing my work. I don’t have to go the traditional route of becoming an artist.
I sell artwork on social media, I connect with interesting people on social media who end up hiring me. It’s SUPER! I know social media is much maligned but it can be good too! It’s all how you use it. I feel really lucky that my career coincided with it’s invention. If I had gone to art school when I was younger in the 80s, I’d probably be an old fuddy duddy with a dying career yelling at kids to get off my lawn. When you started commuting and made a drawing club in the train, I thought it was the kind of thing that could save the world, tell us a bit about your experiences with that. (The train, not saving the world or maybe that too).
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I teach a great class in the Illustration MFA program at FIT in NYC where I get to bring in interesting speakers who talk about side projects leading to career shifts. Last year I brought in Andy Rementer, a fellow Philadelphian, and on the ride home he introduced me to the cafe car on Amtrak. I had always sat in the regular cars on my commutes to NYC and back. It was more fun to sit at a table and draw together. So now I always sit in the cafe car with a snack and a glass of wine, a sketchbook and markers. I pick a theme in NYC and try to fill the page before I get to Philadelphia. The short trip forces one to not think too much which for me dooms a piece of art. I have dreams of bringing together Philly
and NYC artists to take over the cafe car, but I haven’t quite figured out the logistics yet. Do you have a dream project or is there a dream project in the works? Well this summer I get to fill the lobby area of the Wieden + Kennedy ad agency with my art and it’s pretty much a dream. Murals, installations, sketchbooks galore! It’s a super cool space and there isn’t the pressure of selling art for a gallerist or being fine arty. I get to be me. It’s intimidating and exciting at the same time. These are good things. AND I am doing all the illustrations for a new book by the Jealous Curator! I am having a pinch myself year. What’s the most indispensable item in your studio? My studio-mates.: Andrea Cipriani Mecchi, Matt Curtius and Gina Triplett. In your fridge? grapefruits. In your pantry? Wine and bourbon. In your wardrobe? Jeans and tees! What’s the last artwork you purchased? I just bought a print by Eugenia Loli and I commissioned a friend’s nephew to draw a portrait of my cat. Would you share with us a recipe against procrastination? Get off the computer and tell yourself you will draw for only 5 minutes. I read this tip while on the computer (ha), but it works as you usually keep going and before you know it you are working on something cool.
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Let’s talk about hair
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y friend Chris told me about all those girls online with their hairy armpits dyed in bright colours. I checked the pics and saw all kinds of girls, with different looks, proudly showing their armpits and I thought: oh yeah! There are many trends in magazines and on tv, they come and go and change nothing, but this one is different. Girls are accepting their natural hair and are showing it proudly, not just by not shaving it off, but also by drawing attention to it with bold colours. You might like it, you might not, it doesn’t mean you are more feminine or more feminist, neither does it mean they are. But we have to admit that it screams freedom all over. Me myself, I shave, mostly because I think it’s much more hygienic when you’re sweating, but so much respect for those girls. I want to include some advice for girls wanting to cut, pluck or dye their hair in my little piece: there’s no wrong choice if it’s your choice.
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FROM THE ROOTS! Plucking your armpit hair with wax, electrical epilators or any other method might hurt but in the long run it’s the most durable and neat method. Always choose wax over electric machines, some are fine but most of them will give you a terrible amount of ingrown hair. The best way to avoid those in any part of your body is through moisturising.
CHOP IT OFF! There are different methods for you to shave your armpits. You can use a razor, hair removal cream, or an electric shaver. It’s a painful method, but the hair grows back faster and in many cases doesn’t look as neat as using wax. Always use foam before shaving with a razor, and hydrate your skin. If you use a razor buy one with more than 2 blades.
COLOR ME BAD! So you have decided to give it a try? Some girls trim and even ‘design’ their armpit hair before dying it, so think if you want less of it or have it shorter or anything. Pick a dye that is not permanent, because those have more chemicals and you don’t want that in such a sensitive area of your body. The most popular brand among ‘dyers’ is Manic Panic, they have many colours and it fades with washes.
WORDS BY LANA DENA. ILLUSTRATIONS BY GLORIA ESTEVE
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Hedy’s bookshelf
THE PENELOPIAD - M ATWOOD THE ACCURSED -JOYCE OATES
The perfect gothic story. This is what books with vampires, ghosts and demons should be like! TINA
THE LONGEST JOURNEY - EM FORSTER
I love Forster novels and this one, has all the elements of his literature. EVA
Short book inspired by Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and her maids. A mythic tale in a new light. MAR
PERSIANA - S. GHAYOUR
I collect recipes books and this one is my current favourite! MARTHA
MY WICKED WAYS - E FLYNN
A history to discover the golden age of Hollywood from one charismatic actor. LAURA 44
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THE HOBBIT - J.R.R. TOLKIEN
Recommended reading for all LOTR fans. JOANNE
BLUE NIGHTS - JOAN DIDION
NIGHT GAMES - ANNA KRIEN
Krien follows the rape trial of a footballer and explains how football culture treats women as objects. CARA
A very touching book about loss. Made me cry a few times. Perfectly written and very honest. LANA
WE WERE LIARS - E. LOCKHART
A book that is easy to like, easy to read and yet clever. To be read in one sitting! ANA
THE BLUE FOX - SJON
THE BRIEFCASE - HIROMI KAWAKAMI
This book tells a realistic love story based on the love for Japanese food. CELIA
Reflects on both the horrors and wonders contained in human beings, a story to be read in wintertime, with a good cup of tea by your side. SUSANA
THE ROSIE PROJECT - G. SIMSION
Imagine Sheldon Cooper falling in love. Funny and unputdownable! MINA HEDY
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A call for rev-o-lution kate will make you think about sex, female sexual roles in the media and orgasms
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old the headlines! Button down the hatches! A global emergency is underway and it’s affecting nearly half the population. What is it? All around the world women’s vaginas are shutting down out of sheer disappointment as we are not, or are hardly ever experiencing orgasms. We can’t get no oh, oh, OH! Why is this? Well, there are the mechanics of the situation. Maybe you’re lucky enough to be one of the 10% or so that can climax from penetrative sex alone. Maybe you’re sensitive enough to get off with a bit of grinding or are blessed with a freakishly erotic ear lobe (but if you are, you’re not reading this). Most of us need a bit of clitoral stimulation and getting it takes time, willingness and a bit of practise. There are also societal pressures. Women’s magazines telling us ‘how to please your man’ and men’s magazines declaring ‘How to get her to do what you want’
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quietly bury their way into our subconscious from a very early age. The majority of literature about sex breeds us to please and see ourselves as instruments for man’s pleasure. Who is, of course, Prince Charming who never tells a lie! TV sex depicts instantly passionate sex with women writhing in ecstasy in 30 seconds flat (if we’re lucky) and so we end up with Mr Instant Access or acting out Ms Oh yeah, of course I came! Sometimes we come across something a bit more radical like a T-shirt with L7’s controversial “Smell the Magic” cover - which legend has it, got Sean Lennon kicked out of class. Should we dare to say what we want, or see sex as something we can have for the sheer pleasure of it, we risk being seen as scary. Women can risk their sexual health and autonomy by treating birth control as a male responsibility. How does sex make usually pro-active and responsi-
ble women give up so much control over their bodies? Is it shame? Might the tales of fallen women, or the Madonna/ whore complex stop us acting in our own interests? Our virginity is something that is lost, opposed to our first sexual experiences being experiences gained. Men often feel the pressure of the slut/stud binary and are too embarrassed to ask if they’re doing it right, or accept being told what actually does it for us. Which assumes we know what does it for us. By the time we ditch our promise rings, chances are we’re a bit messed up by our flabby or lack of flabby bits. If not that, then the fear of smelling or tasting unpleasant, as though the human race hasn’t managed to keep going a few millenia without electric showers, plastic surgery, brazilians and modern day toiletries. In fact... wasn’t that what sex was like in the nineties? On the plus side, vibrator sales have been rising dramatically. One day I might even be able to travel with one without worrying about it going off during a suitcase check at customs. Women are using them to experience their first orgasms and if we’re a bit more confident, introducing them to our partners in the bedroom. But they’re also being used as a substitute for sex and so far, nothing I know of with a battery can replace the meaningfulness, emotions or desire in togetherness. So let’s start a conversation and break some taboos. Let’s start a trend: HERS FIRST! What if all parties put each other’s pleasure first? Society’s attitudes change by default if we change our own. Mechanics, after all, are on our side. Get it right and we can orgasm again, and again, and again, and again. That’s gotta make a little extra effort getting there worth it, right? WORDS BY KATE ANDERSON
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Greyish Tones WORDS BY EVA MELGAREJO. ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA GOMEZ
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y mother started getting grey hair at a very young age. My first memories of her are of a tall, lean woman with short grey hair. Now that she’s grown old, it has turned completely white. Like her, I started to get my first grey hairs in my twenties. But unlike her, I decided to dye it. I went red, auburn, black and dark brown recently. Until a couple of months ago. I was thinking about stopping to dye and let my natural hair out for a very long time. I work long hours and always had to find the moment to go to the hairdresser for the monthly retouch. I felt sort of trapped, forced, out of habit, out of fear. I started voicing my intentions to co-workers, friends and family. “But you’re too young.” “Grey hair makes you old.” “Why not? Try it. If you don’t like it, you can always dye it again.” Were some of their responses. So one day, I threw my habits and fear out of the window and went for it. Very short hair in all the splendour of its greyness is my new look. I must admit it was difficult at first, I looked in the mirror and saw a different person. But people
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started to compliment me on it: “You look good.” “This style suits you.” “It’s funny because you look younger.” Now I look in the mirror and I only see a smiling woman very content with herself. It may sound silly but I’ve learnt a lot from this. We are our worst enemies when our image is concerned. We tend to conform to society’s conventions or opinions which aren’t set in stone. Why do we equal grey/white hair with old age? Why do we view old age as something negative? As if life stopped when we reach a certain age. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to dye your hair if you feel like it, if you feel like changing your look, if you feel like experimenting or simply because you want to. But it’s also fine to go natural, to do whatever you like and not conform to stereotypes. At the end of the day, what makes you happy is what’s important. I’m happy with my decision. Less time wasted at the hairdresser, more money to spend on other things, more self-confidence. Now I understand why my mother was the way she was.
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Paradise City WORDS BY EVA MELGAREJO. PHOTO BY ANGEL SALGUERO
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o find your self is one of the purposes of life. Most seek gurus, meditate, create art or literature to accomplish it but I’ve found it’s easier than that. Simply walking alone across a city, any city, opens your mind, stimulates your senses and changes your perception of things. You have holidays, some days off work and mundane things and decide to travel. Or stay where you live. It doesn’t matter. You visit a city in another country or the one nearest to you and you put your most comfortable shoes to explore unknown worlds, magical places and mysterious spots. Walking is an exercise for the body and an exercise for the mind. Your eyes wander, they look in all directions because wonders may appear where you least expect it. When you visit a city you haven’t been to before, the experience is different than when you stroll down the streets of a city you know. If you know the road, you focus your attention on the things you may not have noticed before: an old building that’s always been there but the beauty of which you haven’t enjoyed properly, a hidden statue, a carved wall, a stone bench that’s in history books. You learn about the city and you learn about yourself. Because you might discover things in you, you weren’t aware of. Some days, you meet
acquaintance on your outing; you have a chat with them or simply call out to wish them the best. On other days, you bump into tourists who are looking at the same things as you. but with different eyes. Sometimes, they enquire about this or that, they’re lost, they’re searching and you show them the way. You’ve been in their shoes plenty of times. If you like to write, you take a notebook with you to scribble your thoughts into, your feelings, and your adventures. If you like photography, you take your camera to picture the beauty that you see and perceive. When you enter new territory, it can be overwhelming: where to look? what to observe? where to go? But you feel like a kid who sees the world for the first time, it’s full of surprises, of mystery. You have two options: go to the popular places or let yourself be drifting. A museum, a monument, a famous square, a cathedral, your comfort zone. You don’t need to worry about a thing because everything is planned, secure. But the real adventure begins when you walk aimlessly along the less travelled path. You may find treasures within the city, secrets only you will know. And you certainly will find treasures within yourself. Isn’t life an adventure after all?
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Little girl fiction story by emilio lanzas
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he transparent veil appears, always covering bodies. It appears in her eyes, the bodies long gone, but she can still see them, lying there, establishing a kind of secret order. The forest is covered in filth and hope, it’s been a while since someone’s looked among the branches. Her bedroom floor is blanketed by her feather collection, as if by gathering together all the feathers in the world, she’d some day be able to fly, an inner Icarus—she’s desperate, of course. She buried her mother’s corpse, smothered it with kisses and threw it deep into the centre of the earth. She’d now be a woman with long white hair, which would be the only thing still clinging to her skeletal body. That’s how she envisages her, emerging from the blackness of her room, fear in her eyes and then a transparent, dark, oceanic kindness. Walking from one room to another, she reminisces and chews, her body grows smaller and she curls up into herself so as not to keel over under the ceremoniousness of the ceilings. She’s grown too big, they never thought she’d be so tall, their little monster. She then imagines her mother making something to eat in the kitchen, and she helps her reach the highest cabinets, she catches the heavy pots mid-flight before they fall on her white head, crushed and deformed from all the soil upon it. No child should ever grow taller than their mother, she thinks, and with that a new wave of flying thoughts that lash
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out at her and make her crouch down. She wishes she was no taller than a dog and could see things from its perspective. 5’6” and above and her head enters a new atmosphere, her skull cannot take the pressure and it tries to seek more benign latitudes. I bind your body to mine so that the current does not drag you away. I bind your body to mine so that we can float together, the tide rises and there are no sharks or sirens that can pull us into the sea, my daughter-woman. Rivers of saltwater and iridescent insects, a new discovery through different eyes, it was always like this, now that you remember, now that you’ve seized the burning memory with your hands, just tell me if it burns enough. Can you make it? Can you sustain your own life and feed another inside of you? Can you be as brave as she was? The eternal walk between rooms, from one to another, always doors, always the fear of finding her huddled in a corner, waiting for her, bright, gleaming in silver and perhaps wounded, broken. To get up and set foot on a new path, she doesn’t know what it is that enlivens fear. To find her? To lose her? To know her always veiled within those walls? Are there other doors to go through, away from that house? She rubs her middle and calls it, prays that nobody comes tonight and pounds on the door. There are no knuckles strong enough to make her hear the call. Am I not pretty enough? Is there no love in me? Can’t I unfold and lose my flesh? What can we do with what we can do. Grab it and shake it until it spits its last drops out, before it disappears along with everything else. Inside that room she feels a gentle, warm loneliness. She sits down in the middle and closes her eyes. Her placenta’s been chosen, where it can only come to be through silent gurgling, red sea wave breaks, as if it was in a boundless inner ocean, and everything else was wonderful by virtue of being unknown.
TRANSLATION BY GLORIA ESTEVE. photo by oscar xarrie
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WANT TO BE PART OF OUR NEXT ISSUE? WRITE TO US! hello@hedymag.com
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