The ZEITGEIST Issue

VOL. 1 ISSUE. 06

VISIO

JAN/ FEB 2021

Z EI T GEI ST

VISIO

VISIO

Fou n der & Edit or In Ch ief Adriana Green

vision s

f or ged in f lam es

St af f Wr it er s creative visionaries taking center stage

Thomas Hannah Elizabeth Adan

In -Hou se Ast r ologer

just look to the blank slate and let your mind play

Leanne Vanderham

St af f Jou r n alist Matt Yeroschenko

to rise like a ph oen ix from the ashes

Con t r ibu t in g Wr it er s Robert Monk, KT Chambers, Andrew Ihamaki, Matt Yeroschenko, J. Lintu, Skyler Saunders

Con t r ibu t in g Ar t ist s Jeannie Tyrrell, Alba Gasset, Arki Grynberg, Carlos Preza Healy, Peter Irish, KT Chambers, Josh Gosfield, Nick Sullo, Matt Yeroschenko, Kedar Tinaikar, Seraphina Sol

all ideas becoming ext r aor din ar y, dazzlin g displays for all to view and analyze

Spot ligh t Kyla Mayne, Francisco Corbett

and feel within their bones

VISIO ?The Zeitgeist Issue?

Volu m e 1 Issu e 06 | Jan / Feb 2021 ?The Home of Misfit Art? Visio is an independent online and print magazine dedicated to showcasing literature and art, as well as assisting contributors in developing a cohesive portfolio and relevant publishing history.

Published bi-monthly. Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7M7N2. All Rights Reserved. Printed in Canada. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in this issue are those of the contributors and respective creators. All r igh t s r eser ved on en t ir e con t en t s.

LEFT: Collage by Matt Yeroschenko

stories and poems told to comfort and art to warm the soul

t h at ?s VISIO

COVER: Artwork by Nick Sullo BACK COVER: Artwork by Jeannie Tyrrel

LITERATURE

FRANCISCO CORBETT PG. 36

looking glass - a poem by robert w. monk 08 on favourtism - a poem by skylar saunders 09 cup runneth over - poetry by thomas hannah 10

KYLA M AYNE pg. 40

evil - poem by kt chambers 11 moonshiners - a short story by andrew ihamaki 13 travelogue/driving home for an american thanksgiving - stream of consciousness by j. lintu 19 old world new world - a short story by thomas hannah 20 covid vs the noodle - article by matt yeroschenko 24 "how artists think" metaphors - a visual lesson by josh gosfield 27 budapest - a poem by elizabeth adan 31 S.O.S - final thoughts by matt yeroschenko 49

"...There s a lot of venn diagrams in what I like to express in my art and in my writing. All of my pieces can tell a story. What I enjoy is knowing what other people see as stories in my art... Having that play with my own intentions with the piece..."

ART evil - art by kt chambers 11 untitled - digital art by kedar 12 tinaikar the surgical mask - photography by carlos preza healy 18 untitled - art by peter irish 21 deconstruction of the modern world - photography by alba gasset 23 untitled - digital collage by peter irish 30

GLOW WITH LEANNE

" ... It w as f r eedom , an d t h at w as w h at Ban k sy w as doin g, an d Basqu iat , and what I? m doing, an d w h at ar t ist s ar ou n d m e ar e doin g? it ?s cr eat in g f r eedom ? unlimited possibilities and chances..."

h or oscopes 45

untitled - photography by elizabeth adan 31 untitled - digital collage by arki grynberg 32 mori - photography by serpaphina sol 33

LEFT: Photography by Adriana Green ABOVE: Photography by Brian Chard

Z EI T GEI ST ""Nothing can be appreciated in a vacuum.

That's what accelerated culture does; it doesn't speed things up as much as it jams everything into the same wall of sound.

But that's not necessarily tragic.

The goal of being alive is to figure out what it means to be alive, and there's a myriad of ways to deduce that answer; I just happened to prefer examining the questions through the context of Pamela Anderson and the Real World and Frosted Flakes.

It's certainly no less plausible than trying to understand Kant or Wittgenstein...

In and of itself, nothing really matters.

What matters is that nothing is ever "in and of itself."""

Chuck JAN/FEB 6

Klosterman,

"Sex, Puffs."

Drugs

& Cocoa ABOVE: Digital Art by Nick Sullo

JAN/FEB 7

Look in g Glass

On Favou r it ism

ROBERT W. MONK

SKYLER SAUNDERS

A poem that explores reflection, time passing, spirit of conflict, and of considering the damage already done.

This piece was written from a prompt created by Christine Celestine (@sincerely.celestine on Instagram), ?on favouritism or why ?tag your poetry Favourites?is toxic.?The limit for Instagram?s group chats is thirty-two people, and a lot of this poem is about the Instagram poetry community. The line ?the limit is ten but I?ll tell ninety-eight tales?is referencing the limit of tagging ten people in an Instagram story. The piece also pulls from some idea of teacher/student favoritism, and the fact that I?m one of six children, but the poem isn?t entirely true to my personal experiences with those.

A compact looking-glass buried in the folds of a once glamorous handbag now lies in a burnt-out car submerged beneath the reflective gaze of the river.

Tag everyone but you I'm gonna make a group chat and invite

The glass saw his face as he

my thirty-one closest friends I'm my mother 's favorite child

turned to scream at her,

but not my father 's that's okay 50% is only a failing grade I get

wrenching the steering wheel from her grasp,

cast in all the best roles I get to sit in the warmest seat with the

rocking the car backwards and forwards.

best view and it's not my fault what they do I guess I'm just more

Reversal of direction.

likable I'm more of a people person you're a person just like most

Reversal of codes.

people and I don't know what you'd do to make them pick you

Caught in limbo, non-space, airtime,

anyway you're the best writer of your age I've read today on this

before crashing out of the picture

specific platform since I woke up one hour ago I'm going to tag all

and falling into the water.

my faves all my friends the limit is ten but I'll tell ninety-eight tales

Under the water

to get them all in I won't miss anyone except if I missed you I'm

the looking glass reflects

sorry I'm always missing people I miss you so often I want to shove

beneath the reflective gaze of the river.

my phone under the second pillow underneath the better one there's always a better one and you're not it but don't feel bad? neither am I.

Robert W. Monk is a writer, poet and artist.His work has been featured on the Australian online journal LiteLitOne, the UK webzine Ink Sweat & Tears, the US poetry blog Entropy Mag at Enclave, as well as precious editions of Visio mag.

He is soon to be published in the poetry journal Meniscus.

JAN/FEB 8

IG: @RobertWMonk77

Skyler Saunders is a recent UC Berkeley graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. They are originally from Shasta County in Northern California, but now live in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find Skyler's poetry on their Instagram @smilingatmysandwich, where they are embarking on a challenge to write a poem every day for an entire year. In their free time, they enjoy reading, acting, and creating digital art. Skyler's pronouns are she/her or they/them.

IG: @smilingatmysandwich

JAN/FEB 9

Cu p Ru n n et h Over THOMAS J. HANNAH

KT CHAM BERS IG: @k t ch am ber s_t at t oos

IG: @Br ok eSellou t Ran from homes to ghettos There are words missing from literature

From livelihoods to poverty

Voices from music

Ran from the cattle cars steam

Hands from surgery

To the chimneys smoke

& young minds from study

Ran from the minds of the perpetrators

There is a generation of beauty

& the memories of the silent bystanders

A pure,

But as long as there are minds

Human beauty

There?s memory

Cast to the flame

& as long as there is memory

From the podium of pure monstrosity

There?s history

A perfect

& we must remember history.

Human monstrosity

When we dehumanize humanity

All of humanity

Demonize a god

Lost its beauty

Terrorize safety

Its purity

Who are the animals really?

& perfection

The cattle herded to the abattoir ?s chimney

Like it has

Or the wolves snapping at their feet?

Time & time again

The earth was a garden of Eden

With knights of shattered glass

But the human soul is a poisoned chalice

Long knives

So if we ever truly learn from our past(s)

& Aryan Armour

We will not pray for any futures

A war was waged around the world

or forgiveness

& with a people

We will only burn

Marked subhuman

Like all the missing children

With stars Stripes Numbers & Nothing

There?s a spot between my legs that I wish no one touched and a spot beneath my rib cage that I wish never started beating.

There is a place behind my eyes where shit I wish didn?t exist does and I want you to know, I no longer have to fuck you to feel in control.

You?re good at leaving, leaving me to touch my self which is honestly better because I?m just a better lover than you.

You search for women to please you like you, and Im just fine pleasing men and myself in ways I?ll never touch you again.

This is how I live, alone.

Because unlike you, I don?t need a lover to feel sexual.

I have a spot between my legs I wish no one touched other than me, a place beneath my chest that keeps beating and I?m not sure why.

There is a place behind my eyes I?m learning to hide and I want you know I no longer have to fuck you to destroy myself

JAN/FEB 10

JAN/FEB 11

KEDAR TINAIKAR

IG:@Kedar.Tinaikar

M oon sh in er s ANDREW IHAMAKI M oon sh in er s follows two 9-year-old boys as they prepare for a sleepover, but the story is only focused on the before and after. The crux of this story is the tension between the reader's nostalgia for their own childhoods and the constant desire of the two main characters to be older. The story teases with many nods to late-90s nostalgia, with references like 2pac, Nirvana, the Spice Girls, Porno 4 Pyros, as well as Pokemon, X-Men cartoons, and long-gone ephemera like Nickelodeon radios, Orbitz and a Bop-It! However, this nostalgia is continually set in contrast to the events of the story and Logan's desires to be older, to be cool, to drink booze and see "tits."

*** The sun casts wide bands of pink in the sky as the streetlights knock and ping, priming themselves to come on in the cool night air. The sound of a distant police siren rings off the tiny brick houses, as Logan walks ahead of me whistling a medley of Spice Girls songs. I almost trip on every weed-filled crack in the sidewalk, as I struggle to keep up to him in my new roller blades.

We cross Dublin Street at the tiny apartment building that always smells of cabbage rolls, and past the tenements that wrap around the corner of George Street, covered in a rainbow of brightly coloured tags. A few painted pot leaves and magic mushrooms dance across the block of mailboxes, and large wispy yellow letters spell out ?Porno 4 Pyros?on the sidewalk in front of them. ?Porno,? laughs Logan under his breath.

Logan checks the payphones at the front of the store for change and draws out two quarters. He walks over to the pop machine and buys himself a Root Beer. He chugs about half of it, then slams the can against the sidewalk. The pop sprays the side of the building and leaks out from the splits in the side and pools around a used band-aid and some cigarette butts. ?You coming in?? asks Logan, flipping the other quarter as he makes his way up the stoop. ?I?m going to stay out here,? I say, gesturing down to my roller blades.

He shrugs and reaches for the door handle. Bells jingle as he swings it open.

A man approaches from behind me, clearing his throat. I turn around and look at him, catching the sight of his green glassy eyes. A mane of once-black hair, hinted at the roots, is now yellowed and gray, greased back and falls stiffly to his shoulders. His face is deeply scarred with wrinkles and a few sunspots, and he wears an overgrown, patchy black beard. ?Could ya help a brother out?? he asks, the words scraping against his throat. ?Sorry,? I say, looking down at the gun-stained stoop. ?I don?t have any money.?

"The post is untitled but while creating it I was thinking about our world as we spend more time quarantined at home lost into our devices. The next zeitgeist is simply our eventual propensity to disappear in the experiences that virtual reality will bring us."

The bells jingle again, as a guy walks out tucking a pack of smokes into the breast pocket of his flannel shirt. I see Logan standing behind two people in line at the register with his arms overflowing with a couple bottles of pop, a few bags of chips, and an assortment of candy. The door closes as the lotto jingle plays. Winner! Gagnant!

JAN/FEB 13

Logan comes out of the store with a Kazoo in his mouth, sticking out of the corner like a cigar in a mobster movie, and four bags that look ready to burst. He tosses two nickels to the man, and nods for me to follow him back home.

Logan asks me if I can grab him three pieces of watermelon bubble gum from one of the bags. I open it up and fish out one of the packs of gum and hand him three pieces. He asks if I can hold the bag open, then spits the Kazoo into it. He manages to unwrap the gum, tossing the wrappers onto the ground, then pops the pieces into his mouth. ?Can I have one?? I ask.

"Later ? he says, wiping away a trickling of pink drool from his chin? although I can barely make out the words through the giant gob of gum.

The sun has now almost completely set, and the streetlights cast little pools of orange light over the empty blue streets. The air is stagnant but cool, as a few stubborn mosquitoes vibrate around our ears. Logan sighs the rest of the way from the weight of the bags, and his arms begin to shake and jiggle as we reach the sidewalk out front of his house. When we reach his front door, he drops the bags to the ground. His round red face, drenched and dripping of sweat, glistens in the streetlight glow, as the smiley face on his uncle?s Nirvana T-shirt heaves along with his chest and round stomach. ?I gotta go home and grab my stuff,? I say.

Logan reaches into his mouth and pulls out the wad of gum. He tosses it onto the street, and it lands with a thwack. He pulls out a bottle of Orbitz from one of the bags and, like a black hole devouring a galaxy of tiny little planets, he chugs the whole bottle with ease. ?Cool,? he says, wiping his mouth, then he lets out a little burp. ?And don?t forget the? ? he turns to a whisper ?? titty mag.?

The windows of my house shake in their frames, from the bass of my brother ?s sub woofers pounding California Love. The doorknob vibrates, sending pulses up my arm and to my shoulder. I open the door to a cloud of white, reeking smoke. My brother and his friends pass around a joint in the living room. Blankets nailed to the window frames block out the outside world, as the only light from the TV illuminates the expanse of ashtrays, pizza boxes, and bottles of Black ICE lager and Colt45?s. ?Why aren?t you at Logan?s?? my brother asks. His eyes glassy and bloodshot. ?I had to get my stuff.?

My sister pokes her head out of her bedroom, as her friends laugh behind her. ?Aren?t you supposed to be at Logan?s?? she asks. ?I had to get my stuff,? I repeat.

Shawn takes a joint from his friend and takes a deep drag from it, and as he exhales a giant plume of smoke, he says: ?Don?t fucking tell mom.?

The next morning, I wake to the sound of trumpets crackling through the speakers of Logan?s Nickelodeon alarm clock. A sliver of sunlight carves through the pine trees outside and lands across my face. I roll over, sandwiching my head in the pillow to drown out the alarm. I

JAN/FEB 14

hear Logan fumbling for his glasses, before finally shutting off the alarm just as it begins to sing Nickelodeon! ?What time is it?? I ask, rolling over and searching for a glass of water, as my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth like Velcro. Logan sits up in his bed and brushes a pile of candy wrappers from his chest. He grabs a small plastic Charizard watch and a pack of Rolos from his nightstand. ?It?s nine,? he says.

My knapsack leans against the wall, hunched over, spewing onto the floor my clothes and the Penthouse I stole from my dad last weekend. ?I?m going to go home,? I say, as I start cramming everything back into the bag.

When I open the front door, I am greeted by the stewing stench of old smoke, sweat and vomit, with a hint of stagnant alcohol mixed with flat pop. The X-men fight off a swath of sentinels on the TV, as the passed-out bodies litter the living room floor. I hear a grunt and turn to see a guy passed out on the couch, using his t-shirt as a blanket and an open pizza box as a pillow. He scratches his face and knocks off a cigarette butt that was glued to his cheek with pizza sauce.

Wading through the tangled outstretched limbs I search through the pizza boxes for a leftover slice. I check four empty boxes, before opening one with three slices in it. The leftmost slice has a large bite missing, the middle one has two cigarette butts ashed into it, and the third has pineapple.

I toss the box back on the floor and make my way to my bedroom. I try opening the door, but it doesn?t budge. I try to force it open, but with every push a grumbling voice from the other side protests. Finally, from the other side I hear someone yell ?Fuck off, Doug!? I turn around and head to the kitchen and grab a bowl of Nesquik cereal and a banana, then hide in my mom?s room watching X-men and PokĂŠmon reruns.

A few hours later, Logan knocks on the door? three quick raps, followed by two slow ones. ?That was morse code for my initials,? he says as I open the door. ?You still have my Bop-It!,? he says. ?I want it back.? ?I can?t get it,? I say. ?It?s in my room and the door ?s locked.? ?I can pick the lock,? he says. ?My grandpa taught me.?

Logan steps inside and leads me to my bedroom door. He inspects the door handle, before jiggling it lightly. He then inspects the door frame and starts digging in his pockets for something to wedge in and loosen the latch. He takes out a cheap Swiss Army Knife and pops it open and manages to open the door wide enough to wedge his head inside. Over the top of his head I can see four bare legs tangled on my bedroom floor. Logan looks back with a grin and pushes the door open far enough to squeeze his belly inside. I poke my head in after him and see a naked girl and my brother ?s friend Mikey laying on the floor. ?Ah, mon Cherie,? whispers Logan in his best Gambit impersonation, as he nods his head towards the naked girl. My Spiderman bed sheets covering all but a sliver of the outer rim of her nipple. We stand frozen, half by fear and half in amazement, as she rolls onto her side and her

JAN/FEB 15

breasts slip out from underneath the sheet. Slack-jawed, Logan continues to stare at the girl?s breasts as I slip into the room to grab the Bop-It! from my desk. I accidentally hit the button and the music plays. The two bodies stir, and Logan and I rush out and quietly shut the door behind us. ?I wish we could drink and have parties,? Logan says.

I try handing the Bop-It! to Logan, but he turns away and heads off to the living room. I find him sniffing every half-empty glass and bottle he can find. He grabs an empty 2L Pepsi bottle and begins to carefully pour all the cups into it. Almost everyone has left, but I still haven?t seen my brother or sister all morning.

Logan opens the box of pizza that I had tossed to the floor and picks up the slice with pineapple on it. He picks off the bits of pineapple and tosses them back into the box, then continues searching for more and more things to empty into the pop bottle. He manages to fill the bottle about halfway. ?Here,? he says, holding the bottle up to me for a drink. ?You should have the first sip.?

I place the Bop-It! down on the table and look up at a duMaurier butt floating in the syrupy water sloshing around the bottle. ?No thanks,? I say.

?Is it supposed to be this thick?? I ask. ?Yeah,? Logan replies. ?It?s called the mash.?

He grabs the spatula and scrapes out the last bit that?s stuck to the sides and bottom. ?That should be good,? he says, straightens out the top and snaps the bright yellow lid onto the tub. He looks up to the sky and then over toward the slashes of sunlight cutting across the deck. He takes the mixture and walks over to the middle where two of the boards stick up a little higher than the others. ?My uncle says the Egyptians made Vodka by leaving potatoes out in the sun,? he says as he reaches down and lifts both boards up from the deck. ?We can hide ours here, so my mom doesn?t find it.?

Logan places the tub of purple paste down into the hole, then lays the boards down and stomps on them so they lay flat. ?We?ll check back in two weeks,? he says. ?What now?? I ask.He turns his back to me and starts walking over to the Bop-It! He kicks it aside, then jumps down from the deck. ?Do you think she still has her tits out??

?Yeah, I wouldn?t drink it either,? he says. But we could probably make some. My uncle has cable and he says it?s easy to make. It?s just grain, yeast, sugar and water.?

I stare at Logan who takes another bite of pizza. ?I have an idea,? he says, still chewing. ?Follow me.?

We make our way to Logan?s backyard. He goes inside and comes out a few minutes later with his arms filled with stuff. He pours it all out onto the deck and starts listing everything: ?A bowl of cooked rice and two packages of oatmeal,? he says, ?For the grains. ?I couldn?t find any yeast, so these slices of Wonder Bread should work.? ?I?ve also got six rolls of Rockets? that?s almost enough sugar? but the Grape pop instead of water should make up the rest.?

Logan goes back inside and returns with a blender and an extension cord. ?Start tossing the Rockets in,? he says, as he starts to tear the bread up into tiny little squares. I toss them in, and they ping off the glass before landing softly on the mound of rice in the bottom. Once everything is in, I pour the bottle of Grape Crush in until the fizz bubbles just underneath the lip of the glass pitcher. Logan plugs in the blender and pulses the blades. They struggle to cut through the oats, rice, and bread. Logan looks around and spots a stick on the ground. He picks it up and starts prodding the mixture, then begins pulsing the blades again. He repeats until the mixture loosens.

We pour in a little more Grape Crush and Logan presses the smoothie button and let?s it run. ?I?ll be right back,? he says, then runs inside. The blender screams and shakes so hard it looks ready to topple. Logan returns a minute later with an empty 4L ice cream tub and a spatula.

He steadies the blender and lets it run for ten more seconds despite its angry protests. ?Can you help me?? he says, pointing to the ice cream tub.

I place the ice cream tub next to him as Logan tips the pitcher down to pour the mixture out into it. A lumpy, purply-beige liquid creeps down the glass and lands in large gloopy manure-like dollops.

JAN/FEB 16

Andrew Ihamaki(he/him) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and writer from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

His work explores themes of personal identity, memory, and the spaces we occupy. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Trent University, and Sheridan College, and he has appeared in numerous publications and short story anthologies, including Absynthe magazine (Trent University), and 'Come With Me, I'll Show You' and 'Passing Through' (Life Rattle Press). He was recently the writer-in-residence at the Fish Factory Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland, and has appeared on stage for numerous public readings including the 2013 Totally Unknown Writer's Festival held at the Historic Rivoli Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently, Ihamaki is living and working in Peterborough, Ontario, where he maintains his writing and studio practice

JAN/FEB 17

CARLOS PREZA HEALY IG: @n igh t n day18

J. LINTU After a global pandemic came out of nowhere, one thing will forever symbolize the year an entire planet was forced to shut down; The surgical mask. With public places only being accessible by wearing one upon entry, the mask has become one of the most recognizable items in the world. Many people have their own opinions on the masks, but to my girlfriend and I, wearing one on our flight back to Canada was a small price to pay so we could get home and see our families.

We left the UK while on the verge of entering another lockdown and headed back to Canada after a long year of being away from family. A 14 day quarantine awaits international arrivals, but what?s another two weeks to someone that?s spent the better part of a year locked inside their house? Along with a ticket, the mask is now required to gain access to the plane. This image shows that even 38,000 feet in the sky, we can?t escape the effects of Covid. It represents what I believe will be the new normal in our future (wearing a mask) JAN/FEB 18

Tr avelogu e/ Dr ivin g Hom e f or an Am er ican Th an k sgivin g ?Driving home for Thanksgiving, everything along the road and on the radio started to look and sound smart-stupid (stupid-smart?), and steeped in Freudian envy.?? J. Lintu

I?m understanding that I lack understanding, and if 99% of all habitable space on earth is in the ocean, I?m going to need a new swimsuit. No wonder Alexander the Great got excited.

Katabasis can do that to you. He knew what was up. Or down, I guess.

Less than fifteen percent of the ocean has been discovered. He didn?t wear a swimsuit.

In Auxerre, France, only Speedos are allowed in the public pool.I?m going to need a new swimsuit.

What does the smiling Amazon Prime sideways phallus truly intend? Let?s admit, free delivery could take on a whole new meaning, Billboard: Find out where you came from? Pay to spit into a mail-in tube. All of us were spit out by a male-in tube anyway.

I?m seeing the amazon in a new light. Deliver us from treelessness, dear seeders.

I saw a train transporting 72 army tanks.I had no idea.Some would say Blessed are the Peacemakers.I have no idea.

I know it?s indecorous to ask, but did Frito ever get laid?

You would not believe what inspires this.

Rubicund, ready-made, Rotterdam, refulgent.What could I be describing?Hint: the table is set, honey.

I?ve heard people say Nava-joe.

Sometimes, a tunnel could really use some lubricant.

Honestly, what does cousin mean to you?I mean, I?ve been to plenty of bad family reunions.

They wrote to say I?m published.Don?t they know what that can do to a person? Don?t they know I cannot talk about that stuff at dinner?

Fr. Billy texted that he thinks I have the heart of a poet, and that it?s feeling more real. Finally, I can pack some clothing.

They said that to me in Mexico, too. Heaven knows, I was just a hungry man, gorging on lit matches.

Poetry (p??itr?), n. Greek: poietes? maker. No wonder I keep wanting to make out with all of you. Welcome to the real family reunion.

Recipiscense is overrated. I wish I?d known sooner.

Come with me next time, please. I cannot give birth, cannot create dangerously, without you.

And an extra driver never hurts. Until the head-on collision. Ready to meet my parents?

J. Lintu?swork has appeared in Presence, The West Wind Review, The Penwood Review, newversenews.com, earthsongs, and Foxfold press, as well as forthcoming work in Aji magazine, Absolution, and a chapbook-in-development from Impossible Press. An Associate Artist in Poetry under Joy Harjo at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, J. recently returned home to the Pacific Northwest after a 20-year absence, and happily lives a few minutes away from Multnomah Falls.

IG: @seppilin t u

JAN/FEB 19

Old Wor ld, New Wor ld.

THOMAS J. HANNAH Old World New World.' is a comment on fear, & our media & leader's misinformation & inflammation of fear. It is a comment on discrimination & the toil of the voiceless. It shows us the soul can be sold to the highest bidder.

Hector never genuinely believed he was mad, as it often is with the truly mad.

The Soviet Union had just moved around 100 nuclear weapons to the island of Cuba and two of the world?s most powerful fingers lay poised, pointed over their big red buttons.

Hector owned a successful jewelry store in Manhattan that he built from the ground up with nothing but the grit of his yellow teeth and the bones of his common fingers. He lived in a modest apartment in an affluent neighbourhood with his maid Danika and his Cocker Spaniel Hope for company. He had never married or had children, had never robbed, raped or murdered. He could buy almost anything and wanted for nothing, he loved his country and paid his taxes.

In a mad world he was perfectly sane.

Hector ?s parents with their newborn son (then named Ettore) immigrated to America in 1910 fleeing nightmarish poverty and seeking the American dream, and Hector found it. He had made enough money to live ten or more lifetimes over by the time he was 30 and had spent little more than the average man now into his 50?s.

Hector accumulated wealth not possessions, he would not die hungry like his parents.

The ?Red Menace?had been a threat to American liberties and freedoms for some time but the news of a communist nuclear arsenal in Cuba poured fuel on the flames of fear already spreading through a nation. Originally Hector didn?t buy into the nightly propaganda sell on television, but when the foreign guns were pointed in the face of his country so kind and threatening her future, he was engulfed. Words like espionage, conspiracy and treachery swirled about his brain instead of sleeping, there was word going around the neighbourhood that a local Russian boy had been arrested as a Soviet spy and Hector wondered how many more must be among them. Whole towns were supposedly being choked by the iron grip of the Soviets and ordinary Americans didn?t even know it!

Hector no longer sold jewelry to Russians, or Cubans, or anyone with an Eastern or South American accent. He owed this country so much and if she was at war, so was he and he would fight it the only way he knew how.

With his jewelry. He was proud, these people could starve for all he cared.

As the days passed the country?s hate and fear escalated and Hector knew he had to remain vigilant. If the Soviets had infiltrated and taken small towns all over the country what would stop Manhattan, all of New York city, Washington and inevitably the whole United States falling into their hands? And if they couldn?t take her alive, America would face a worse fate than Hiroshima-destruction WITHOUT mercy. To hector the dominoes were stacked, it was just a matter of when they were going to be knocked over, and when they were, he would be ready. His eyes stayed glued to the television at home and ears to the radio at work, he wanted to-the-minute updates on what the communist rats were up to.

Danika noticed the change in hector, three years she had been his maid and they had

JAN/FEB 20

exchanged little more than pleasantries but now there was nothing. He spent his time stupefied on his couch, staring a blank stare into his television, and when he seldom went into work he would close early when ?Men in overcoats?hung around the store. Eventually his preoccupation became so severe she even had to feed Hope; accustom to Hector ?s soft affections of a night the dog would now beg her master of an afternoon for food. Her yelp falling on deaf ears and blank eyes. ?They know I?m not selling to them anymore?. These were the first quivering words Danika had heard from Hector in days. ?Who doesn?t know what?? The young student was perplexed. ?THEY know, THEY KNOW?. Hector was pointing at the television, ?Red Nightmare?was on. ?Men in overcoats come into my store and leave without a word! They know I?m not selling to them anymore and they?re staking out the place!? ?Staking out the place for what?? Danika was still playing catch up. ?A hostage, a heist, an EXPLOSION. C?mon woman open your eyes, it?s another communist conspiracy, the amount of jewels and cash I have in that safe would seriously accelerate their espionage and treachery! Or what a better victory over capitalism then taking hostage or blowing up a prominent jewelry store!? He sounded almost annoyed at her for not keeping up with the inner mechanisms of his mind. She only nodded in agreement. ?I?m closing the store. I have enough savings to live ten lifetimes and am not letting some commie bastard take this one from me?. She nodded again, said goodnight and left.

Hector need not have closed his jewelry store. It was burnt to the ground the next day and not one precious stone was recovered. When questioned he told the police he no longer kept his jewels in the store safe and gave his reason-the soviet men in overcoats. That was enough for the authorities that day, they said they would investigate and added his file to a stack, he would get a nice pay out in the end.

When he started believing J.F.K in the television was talking to him directly and Nikita Khrushchev was the devil incarnate, Hector ?s benign preoccupation had mutated into malignant obsession. He was convinced his apartment was bugged with all kinds of Soviet recording devices and stripped it of all but necessities: Mattress, television, radio, refrigerator and a skinny Hope who was missing more meals than Danika could feed her.

Hector instructed Danika to no longer bother with the cleanliness of his place but to scour the floor and walls for anything out of the ordinary; a fallen coat button, a loose nail, a paperclip, anything of the sort was to be brought to Hector ?s attention. ?There are too many communists in the world and too many people in this building for us to be complacent!? Danika only nodded her

ABOVE: Artwork by Peter Irish

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head in agreement.She preferred him silent, before all this Cuba business. But Hector had almost tripled her wages to search an empty apartment, occasionally bring him a lost earring or old spoon and nod her blonde hair in agreement. Her family was too hungry and she too intelligent to give up what she had, one day her name would be in lights. She would just have to wait.

ALBA GASSET IG: @r eclu ser dar k _albagasset

recluserdark1.wixsite.com/albagasset

"DECONSTRUCTION OF A MODERN WORLD"

Hector trusted Danika, to him she was the all-American girl; young, attractive and hard working. But not enough to stop him rifling through her bag to find handwritten notes in what appeared to be Russian.

He waited until she came out of the bathroom before shoving them in her face demanding an explanation. ?THEY?RE MY COLLEGE NOTES!? ?THEN-WHY-ARE-THEY-IN-RUSSIAN?. Hector was apoplectic and frightened. ?IT?S BULGARIAN, I prefer to write in my native tongue?. Hector slapped her hard, Mostly out of fear. and demanded she take her clothes off so he could search her, out of anger.

Through her sobs Danika refused and tried to push past Hector who was now blocking the bathrooms exit, again demanding she strip whilst taking off his belt and shoes. Danika knew she was in trouble, but she was too poor and too strong to just bend over at her oppressors will. ?DIE YOU PIG?. Danika lunged at Hector striking him on the side of the head with a closed fist and spitting more curses at him in her native tongue, but he was too strong. Pushing her to the ground he pulled her shirt over her head quickly and was starting on her jeans when she saw the knife fall out of his and onto the bathroom floor. Grabbing it and blindly trying to stab at her rapist.

Hector again was too strong for the young 19-year-old, grabbing her arm and prying the knife out of her hand quickly.

The trail was a nationwide sensation, Danika?s beautiful face was splattered over every newspaper and news station, the press coined her the ?Blonde Commie Bombshell?. She only had to die to become somebody and they still didn?t care to know her.

Danika?s grandparents had immigrated from Bulgaria to the U.S in 1905 and worked hard to make a good life for their children, as her parents did for her.

Life wasn?t easy but it was worth living.

There are many reasons Hector was acquitted of murder.

He claimed mistaking Danika for a Communist intruder and his doctor backed this up with Hectors erratic and paranoid mental state caused by the Cuban missile crisis in the days leading up to her death.

Also, Danika?s body was completely clothed with no Injuries or signs of sexual assault, playing heavily in manslaughter ?s favour.

Finally, Hector ?s lawyers used Danika?s heritage to their advantage and it worked. The United States was in no mood for a dead communist handing a patriot a life sentence.

In the end the Cuban Missile crisis came and went without any nuclear destruction and the United States remained in American hands.

Hector served three years in a mental asylum before rehabilitation and release. Leaving only a hungry dog to starve in a world not her own.

Thomas Hannah is a Staff Writer for VISIO as well as a writer in other respects, as well as an artist armed with the pen, the paintbrush & the camera. His work, often tackling themes of self & societal deconstruction, strives to hold a mirror to himself & those around him .

@Br ok eSellOu t

"Obsolescence or the fashion of rapidly substituting what marketing strategies curse as obsolete, has created enormous amounts of technological debris all around our cities. They lay in the store room of our modern world, a world that feels ashamed of past machinery? of past development. The here presented portraits are deconstructions of pictures of technological trash I took in an anonymous city in Germany, next to a high tech research center. With this work I want to transmit the audience my critical view about this overtech world. Mankind is devouring its own technology? but one question arises: what?s the price we will have to pay?

Being devoured by our own excess of technology?"

RecluserDark is the pseudonym under hides Alba Gasset, photographer and visual artist digital born in Barcelona. The vision that Alba projects in her images is a passionate person for industrial landscapes, ancestral and monumental architecture, the sacred fields, forests and other enigmatic and abandoned places. RecluserDark, through her lens, captures the feelings and memories of those stories, told with her camera from a special point of view and personal style. Alba Gasset is a self-taught visual artist, her life experiences and her travels around the globe has brought her for inspiration to create. Her work in format digital combines architectural elements and nature to make unique and dual landscapes, unfolding time and space between them.

Located near Caledon Ontario, the Alton Mill Arts Centre is home to the Noodle Gallery, run by Monica Kerr-Coster. She calls herself the galleries " mistress" , and spoke to Matt about how she's keeping up with rising tides of unexpected, yet pleasant changes that COVID-19 had inevitably brought to the mill.

PHOTO BY MATT YEROSCHENKO

COV I D-19 V S. THE NOODLE

"... I took on this story with pessim ism in my heart, expecting to face the dark truth... that galleries are dyin g an d m u ch of ar t w ill be dyin g by t h eir side...

Instead I learned...

things don?t look so bad." lot of their own money,? Monica said of the brothers behind the restoration, ?It?s just an admirable thing because the easiest thing would have been for them to have just torn down the building and sold the land.?

WRITTEN BY MATT YEROSCHENKO

When I was asked to write a piece about the Covid induced emptiness of art galleries, I thought of Monica Kerr-Coster, as there?s nary a better spokesperson for the creative spirit, and none quite so determined to make local art available and accessible to her community.

I first met Monica in early December 2020, smack-dab in the middle of Ontario's second lockdown which included Toronto and Peel Region. The meeting took place outside a lovely rural cafĂŠ called ?The Tin Roof? where she and a friend (who owned a complimentary business), had arrived with a pop-up shop in the form of a trailer packed with art and otherwise artisan goods.

Instead, they chose the harder path, and despite neither living in or even being particularly near Alton, they?ve been committed to making the Mill meaningful.

1988 by Seaton Group, which left the dilapidated building standing empty until 1999, that is until a small section was converted to studio space for a woodworker and a few artists.

From 2006 until 2009 the building was fully restored and renovated which proved The Noodle Gallery, located in Alton, Ontario, is a historic to be a difficult, but worthwhile task. and generally magical Arts Centre, and had been subject ?They ended up having to spend a to the same restrictions as Toronto.

Monica, on top of her self-appointed role as Noodle?s Gallery ?Mistress?, is an outspoken advocate of the Alton Mill Arts Centre. She believes in the power of the space so much so, that when I asked for the Noodle Gallery back-story, she naturally began with the history of the Mill. ?The Alton Mill is probably the most impressive part of the story.?

The Mill is an old structure. Built in 1881, it began as a knitting mill, which it remained through both flood and fire until 1932. In 1935 it was converted to factory which manufactured rubber products, including but not limited to condoms and Mickey Mouse balloons for Disney; molds for which are in a display case in the basement.

Finally, the land the Mill is built upon was purchased in JAN/FEB 24

"Monica told me, 'Some people get really intimidated when they think about art galleries... They think about the pretentioussort of whit e walled spaces where you walk in very t imidly and people are whispering and that?s everything that the

Mill is not .?

Headwaters. The contrast between the two is obvious. One is in-your-face and bold and eclectic, brimming with as much art as unabated, unapologetic personality, and the other is the Headwaters Arts Gallery.

The Noodle is teeming with audacity and awe. The first steps into the space are met by an array of artisan wares and smaller pieces, and a big display piece front-and-center that changes regularly.

When I visited it was a Yeti mountain. It?s teeming with it. Beyond the entrance the space opens up to feature the walls, which are covered in paintings and photos and sculptures and reasonably spaced hand-written framed quotes from creative people.

The floor space is maximized too, filled with furniture and jewelry and sculpture and so on. In the back corner there?s a lamp made from the top seven-or-so feet of a street lamp. The kind from outside, way up on a pole. But it?s a lamp. I?m telling you, Noodle is teeming with all things interesting, Despite the volume of art in the space, Monica proudly told me about nearly every piece and the artist who made it. She did the same when she showed me around the Mill. We didn?t miss a square inch, and she was the consummate tour guide, excitedly sharing tidbits about different galleries we passed and why they?re special.

That?s Monica. She?s a relentless advocate for art and its spirit. She lives and embodies it, but she does this honestly, and with the success of her It?s a recurring theme. friends and the community at large in the forefront ?The building itself is a very inspiring place to be,? of it all. She?s a master hype man, if you?ll pardon the Monica told me, ?Some people get really intimidated when they think about art galleries.

They think about the pretentious sort of white walled spaces where you walk in very timidly and people are whispering and that?s everything that the Mill is not.? She?s right. Where there might otherwise be white paint and silence, one is instead enveloped by amazing exposed-stone walls, old wooden beams, and splendid acoustics.

It has an unmistakable warmth. ?They?re very focused on the community aspect of the building.?

The Noodle Gallery has called the Mill home since 2014 where it started as a law office disguised as an art gallery, which Monica used as an opportunity to show off her ?real artist? friends? work. The gallery grew and in 2017, the Noodle moved from its relatively small upstairs studio to its current home on the first floor right inside the entrance as a real anchor to the Mill. It sits among about two dozen studios, galleries, and shop within which spread across three floors. Just across the hall is the Headwaters Arts Gallery, a not-for-profit volunteer based organization that PHOTO BY ADRIANA GREEN celebrates art and artists from the Hills of the

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phrase. It?s a little easier to understand the pop-up shop with this in mind.

I took on this story with pessimism in my heart, expecting to face the dark truth that galleries are dying and much of art will be dying by their side. I approached Monica prepared for bad news, hopeful that she?d at least have a somewhat optimistic light to shine on sad times. Instead I learned, at least through the anecdotes and experience of one person immersed in the local art world, things don?t look so bad.

JOSH GOSFIELD

She did begin with a disclaimer: ?when you?re asking me for my thoughts and my opinions on things like this I?m the very first person to very openly tell people that I am not an art curator.? She explained, ?I didn?t do to school for curating. I didn?t even go to school for art.? It seems as much a ploy to stay humble in success as it is a rejection of the snooty, pretentious baggage that comes with such a title. It?s why she prefers her title of Gallery Mistress instead.

As we continued, I asked her about the negative impact Covid-19 had inflicted upon Noodle. To my surprise she explained, ?The curious thing about the pandemic is? I think if you were to talk to most of the artists and galleries within the Mill, and certainly for Noodle, the pandemic has actually been ? crazily ? better for us.?

Um, what? ?It was the opposite of what we were expecting as well.?While she admits, ?I know there are artists who have not sold as much,? she also told me, ?I know there are artists that have flourished and really done exceptionally well.? When I probed for a theory, she suggested it?s because options like travel and live entertainment are off the table. ?The pandemic has taken away a lot of those things from people, and now, when you go down the list of what you?re spending your money on when it comes to luxury items, now you?re getting to art. So I think what has occurred, and certainly in our experience, is actually more purchases of large pieces of art.?

Well that?s not so bad. ?I can?t say that this has been the experience of all galleries, but I would be surprised to hear if it wasn?t the experience for many galleries.?

If that?s not good news then I?m not my mother?s second favourite son. It?s especially good news for someone as personally invested in art as Monica has proven to be. ?I take a certain responsibility and care in wanting to sell things for the artists and artisans that I?m working with.? There?s that theme of community again.

I admitted that I embarked on this story expecting the worst only to find one of genuine optimism.

Monica summed it up well ?I think that the one thing that?s become clear is the importance of all the creative aspects of life, so I do think there?s a positive future for all those things. I think that arts in general like creative aspects of life in general ? like creative aspects of life in general ? the importance of them really shone through.?

@alt on .m ill @n oodlegaller y Mat t Yeroschenko isa Staff Journalist for VISIO, a writer, photographer, and devotee to the Church of Silly. It'sbest to keep from taking him too seriously when not outright ignoring him.

IG: @fakeyero JAN/FEB 26

IG: @JOSH_GOSFIELD

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ELIZABETH ADAN IG: @edgeof elizabet h

JAN/FEB 30

w w w.secon dt r ian gle.com @t h epet er ir ish

PETER IRISH

"I practice pop-alchemy, mixing surrealism, zen, hieroglyphics, punk rock, classicism, decomposition, the occult, current events, industrialism, jazz, emptiness, ancient history, Gnosticism, and life in the city. I could write about how great I am, but it?s the dark, traumatized, fucked up sides of myself that love to make art. Cynical humor mixed with absurdity portray situations and elements that shouldn?t work together but somehow do, creating hope and a strange optimism at the beginning of the end of the world." Peter Irish

w w w.elizabet h adan .com

" BUDAPEST" the lights are on in budapest and the lightbulb in my bedroom just went out it popped when it exploded and the dark fell like a firework haze in patchworks over my bed the ball could be dropping in nyc

in prague what withers today in the garden will have to stay there until spring buried like the compost, the idea of being free to create and be calm

and crystal caverns filling with water in mexico as the climate heat creeps closer like your knees

minding gaps in these london moments and always hoping for the next staircase

in the night

there's a wave I've caught before

the dark parts of me are singing and frustration is eating its way out

and I'm trying to find again

like ants, organized

you're the one who needs protecting when I trek the depths of these death valleys

my ankles burn like fire

so predictable

the anger itches

like the sun rising over dubai

keep moving

and your arm leaves the weight of a ghost as it and the dark spreading over my room clutches my shoulder on a subway platform both before RIGHT: and after the lightbulb pops Sol pg. 30 ABOVE: Artwork by Elizabeth Adan Artwork

by Seraphina

ARKI GRYNBERG

" M ORI"

"The works presented tells the story of peoples overcoming adversities, both historical and as general view on human weakness.

The issues mentioned are presented in these collages through images of physical struggle, historical references, sample furniture assembly manuals and distorting, foggy layers of paint.

Ser aph in a Sol "I am interested in the longstanding relationship between humans and their environment. My photographs explore our perceptions of separation from nature and concerns with environmental decay alongside our technological advancements.

To summarize, human nature prevents us from being easily eradicated either physically, emotionally or mentally. Although we struggle for most of our lives against different odds somehow we still find the power, willingness and urgency to stay afloat and succeed in the future ahead of us."

In my series, Mori, the environment is disrupted and altered by the digital. It establishes a sense of disconnect and the distorted. At the same time, it reintroduces the landscape through a new lens and invites a revitalization.

I used an infrared camera with coloured filters to extend the visible spectrum of light and capture every day, decaying landscapes in dreamlike colours. Plants that were brown and dying appear to be glowing and take on a new life in surreal colours. This is a reminder of the landscapes we have shaped and are shaped by, contrary to the common belief that we are separate." - Seraphina

Born in Pomeranian Poland where he spent his teenage years and young adulthood.

With the new millennium emigrated to London/UK where he lives and continue creating mixed media analog collages.

His works were seen in many places around the globe: Russia, US, Scandinavia and various countries in Europe.

Arki passionately support underground zine scene and independent publications.

IG: @arkigrynbergcollage JAN/FEB 33

Seraphina Sol is a Toronto-based artist working at the intersection of natural science and visual art. Her practice investigates the natural landscape as an extension of the body where identity, traditional knowledge, and science are intertwined. She works with a variety of media to capture the vital forces of life and overlooked details of our everyday, bridging the mystical and the mundane. ig: @solseraphina w: solseraphina.com

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BIG FISH; BORING PONDS An Interview with Kingston based artist Fr an cisco Cor bet t INTERVIEW & PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADRIANA GREEN

Fr an cisco Cor bet t is all chaotic good.

Teeming with influential energy and a kind heart, he uses his creative intelligence to shake up the scene everywhere he goes,, and inspires most everyone he meets. exposing them to new ways of creating.

I met up with Francisco at a coffee-shop Downtown Kingston to discuss guerrilla marketing, the ego of an artist, and how he inserts artistic innovation into his community to excite change.

Th an k s f or join in g m e t oday t o discu ss t h e zeit geist an d you r w or k . I r eally f eel lik e you ar e addin g t o t h e cu lt u r e of Kin gst on w h en it com es t o ar t . Kin gst on is a bit lik e Flor ida (lau gh s), I m ean , it is ju st a blan k slat e.

I love the idea of places with no culture. Because you can do whatever you want. It is groundbreaking. But its what's going on in Europe, but you get to do it here, I?m just doing what they?re doing, and it just pops more. But in places like Kingston and Florida, and like Maine... I love the idea of going somewhere where there?s nothing and creating something.

Wer e you alw ays m ak in g ar t ? Has it alw ays been in you ?

I really liked Banksy growing up. I thought he was cool, and I liked his ability to spray paint and have these stencils. I went through a period of trying to emulate that, trying to spray paint. Not like tagging, because I didn?t have a tag of my own, but I would try to do art pieces. That was where I started. I also love making music for fun. My friend would make beats and I would write lyrics, and every time we would try to record, I would go to the mic and choke, but I just kept doing it because it was a lot of fun... there?s not a time where I?m not listening to music. I love music. Art hasn?t been in me in the painting context forever, but later on I realized that other artists like Basquiat were re-creating but on canvas this time and were in the AGO and in galleries and really mature academic places. It was freedom, and that was what Banksy was doing and Basquet, and what I?m doing, and what artists around me are doing? it?s creating freedom? unlimited possibilities and chances.

I?m glad you m en t ion ed Basqu iat . If it ?s n ot con t en t iou s t o say, you r w or k does r ef lect h is st yle, an d it ?s ver y good. How w ou ld you say you dif f er en t iat e you r self f r om h is st yle?

I think that these days? what I see online, Instagram? the bulk of it, you can credit it as being Basquet?s children. Its figure painting, its unusual faces and crazy amount of colours and abstraction. I started like that. I say this to my dad all the time, ?these great artists like Warhol and Picasso, and others, they would want you to copy them.? They want you to be like ?fuck you,? but they do want you to be something else if you are really going to do it. Its not a point of contention, but I appreciate you saying it, but its so... I?m trying to be so far away from that and create my own style, and that?s what they would have wanted. They essence of what I?m doing has to be different, or else you?re regurgitating the same shit.

It becom es in cest u ou s alm ost , an d if it ?s an y con solat ion , I t h in k you do dif f er en t iat e you r self ; you br in g t h is elect r icit y t h at Basqu iat lack ed. Ar t st em s f r om ar t st em s f r om ar t , an d if you see an yt h in g t h at speak s w it h you , you ar e goin g t o u se it t o r ecr eat e.

I don?t think any artist wants a copy-cat, for either an ego/pride thing, or more altruistic like, ?for the love of art, don?t copy me!? But it probably stems from ego like, ?fuck you, don?t copy me.? We are all human and we?re going to have those faults.

I see you r ar t on billboar d adver t isem en t s an d you r spr ay-pain t ed ar t pieces, lik e t h e on e beh in d Miss Bao?s r est au r an t , all t h e t im e Dow n t ow n Kin gst on .

You ar e a pr o at gu er r illa m ar k et in g. Do you h ave an ar r an gem en t w it h t h e cit y?

I didn?t even start by going to them, like ?hey will you help me?? I have a friend now, a fantastic artist, he was talking to me and he was saying he got approval to do this piece, and he got the support, and from the very

JAN/FEB 37

inception of me doing art I didn?t want the support, and I didn?t think I deserved it, and I didn?t think I?d fit into what they wanted to support. From the very beginning I wanted to be different, I wanted to be way different.. I wanted to be something that the city wouldn?t agree with. It never occurred to me to even asked to be sponsored. Now that I?m becoming more serious, I have to ask? it?s starting to affect my brand. I don?t think they were ever against me, but I had to make them the enemy, like ?I?m fighting against you.? In reality though it was never like that. They just didn?t know me, and now they do. And they reach out to me sometimes.

Has you r ar t alw ays been polit ical, or m essage based?Was it a con sciou s or deliber at e decision ?

A girl who interviewed me in the summer was asking, ?are you taking a stance? Or making a political statement?? And I said ?from the beginning, I?m not... I?m focused on the way humans and people react to these situations, not the government reaction, but the human reaction. I did the George Floyd piece? it was done with black ink, it was made in like a second, just random black lines, right? And I took a step back and it looked like the infamous photo of Floyd, and I called It the death of George Floyd, but there was nothing behind it wasn?t thinking about it at the time, it just came out of me. I?m normally just interested in how people view it. People make up politics and vice versa. To say you?re not political is not accurate.

Did you f in d you r st yle t h r ou gh exper im en t at ion , or w as it t h e desir e t o execu t e w h at you alr eady en vision ed? An d t h at can t ie in t o you f in din g m an y dif f er en t st yles as you gr ow an d cr eat e.

That is a really good question, yeah? I started with the Basquiat style, and writing on my paintings, copied the structure and right away thought this is not good, real art requires risk. If you are not taking a risk, then its game over. That said its demanding to always take risks, but risk and experimentation are hand in hand. When you?re experimenting, you?re taking a risk and when I get comfortable doing something, naturally I have to change it up. Its like, I?ll do it until it?s gone from my system, then we?ll figure how a new way to say things. I?ve been distorting my paintings lately.

It?ll be clear and then I?ll throw water and paint on it and scrape away and make it look hard to see.

Risk is everything. Risk is my career.

If you st ep in t o t h e pr oject w it h r isk as you r door w ay, you w ill alw ays st ep in t o som et h in g n ew. Th er e is alw ays beau t y in t h at void. Th e r isk an d t h e f ear ? it is lik e dr ivin g a st an dar d car , on e f eels t h e in st in ct t o sh if t gear s bef or e som et h in g h appen s.

I view my work as a sport, or it?s competitive like that like, ?I?m going to win? attitude. So, risk plays into it. If you don?t make the shot, you?re not going to get the shot, you?re not going to get the good painting, and you?re going to feel like shit. Keeps you going.

You ar e t h e Ar t ist ic Dir ect or f or FOR WORLD?

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Before Covid-19, me and my business partner David Simon, we were doing shows together.

Runway shows. I would make the clothes and he would help organize and photograph it It progressed, we ended up doing runway shows and concept shows and performance pieces, all these things and they became bigger and bigger, and you have to hire on people and rent spaces, it becomes very large, it becomes FOR WORLD, a brand, where we do our shows with, or shows under FOR WORLD. And the distinction between me and FOR WORLD... well I?m not sure, I haven?t really gotten to what that is yet. I did a show in NYC and I guess that would be me, not FOR WORLD, but I?m there because of it. But FOR WORLD is when me and my team do a show, we?re FOR WORLD. Do you h ave u pcom in g pr oject s w it h FOR WORLD? With Covid-19 it?s hard, but be innovative. Do new things. Digital platforms are around. That is the key, is to stay innovative. Nothing planned right now, but individually I have merch coming out and a marketing campaign containing a billboard, and I crafted this whole story called SERIES 1 ?The Box?, and that is a story that I?ll be telling over the next few months about a character named Mr. Wonderful. He framed his own death, and now we will be seeing installations of him around the city. Mr. Wonderful?s character will also be on the merch I?m printing out. It?s very cool, it?ll have puff print ink so you can feel the characters. That is an individual project that I?m so excited for it, it?s coming out in about a month.

Can you discu ss you r ?Kin gst on Isn?t Bor in g An ym or e? Exh ibit ion ?

When I came up with it? I use to have a warehouse down by the water, and my good, good friend Jesse Whale, she asked me ?what are you trying to do? What is your thing? The meat to it?? And she pulled it out of me, and I said, ?Kingston isn?t boring anymore.? I was like, ?oh shit!? That?s where it started. It was more about my life and not being boring anymore. Because you?re in control of you?re own life? and I didn?t want to be bored in my own city. It all stems from me, which sounds egotistical, but I do this because I want to have fun here and it?s so great that other people can have fun through what I?m doing. It?s fun for me to see that too... to say Kingston was boring was because my life was boring and I didn?t want it to be? there really is nothing to be bored about... there?s a pandemic, world change happening, social change happening, you can either be traumatized or really excited, or look closer, or read something, no reason to be bored.

And it?s because of the people that I keep around me, it?s all these people that see not necessarily Kingston, but their own lives not being boring anymore. That?s the focus. *** Fr an cisco Cor bet t is a painter, performance artist and director of an art label titled FOR WORLD in which he produces large scale runway shows, concept shows, and art galleries Series One Drop: w w w.f r an ciscocor bet t .com @f r an ciscocor bet t 01.31.2021

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Art & Fashion: How Two Mediums Collide to Solidify the Zeitgeist INTERVIEW BY ADRIANA GREEN PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY KYLA MAYNE & BRIAN CHARD

Today, we are talking with Kyla Mayne, an artist and psychology student studying at Queen?s University. Kyla makes full use of both her left and right brain, expressing herself by inserting elements of psychology, science, and human behaviour into her art forms.

I sat with her at Martello Alley, a gallery Downtown Kingston where her art is located for sale, to discuss how she uses fashion as a means for self-expression, and how by her very doing so, is in turn influencing her surroundings, as she solidifies her own presence in the Zeitgeist by adding to and enriching the culture of art in her community. *** You st u died psych ology at Qu een s?

I?m pursuing my PHD in Developmental Psychology right now, so I study bullying and teen dating violence mostly. Did my undergrad at Queens, recently finished my masters and now I?m pursuing my PHD as well.

Typically the PHD takes around four years, the developmental program is a bit different then clinical psych, it?s more research based. Usually it?s somewhere around four years. I?m a professional student.

Wit h in cu lt u r es, t h er e?s an em ph asis of im por t an ce w h en su st ain in g t r adit ion s w it h t an gibles, su ch as f ash ion . Cou ld t h at be explain ed t h r ou gh psych ology? Is t h er e a scien t if ic com pon en t t o w h y h u m an s lat ch on t o self expr ession t h r ou gh f ash ion ?

Definitely. I think a lot of various psychological concepts are things I explore through my art, not always in a conscious way.

But a lot of the times, that kind of tradition and continuation and expression of certain times and places is something I try to express? my art involves liminal spaces? it is nowhere and everywhere at the same time. I take inspiration from a lot of different eras, obviously as a psychologist, I?m fascinated by human behaviour. I think considering that, as well in trying to craft a narrative around a painting, is really important to me.

Trying to grasp that and harness it into a piece is important.

Taking things from different traditions and using that to express myself and something hopefully new is my intent. it ?s a h u m an desir e, an d alm ost u r gen cy, t o par t ak e in st or yt ellin g, an d t o pass dow n t h r ou gh gen e r at ion s an d cu lt u r es, t h e t r adit ion s an d st or ies of t h e people, an d I f in d t h at t an gibly you can cr eat e t h at w it h f ash ion an d ar t , an d you ?r e alm ost cr eat in g you r ow n cu lt u r e.

Storytelling is very important to me, beyond being a traditional artist. I?m also a writer, which informs my art. My first passion was writing, and it overlapped with my art. There s a lot of

venn diagrams in what I like to express in my art and in my writing. All of my pieces can tell a story. What I enjoy is knowing what other people see as stories in my art. Having that play with my own intentions with the piece.

There are times when I?m trying to go at a certain thing with the piece, but someone gets a different message from it and that message is really powerful to me as well. Art is something that people consume, it?s not just for myself. Even though it is a little piece of my soul I?m putting out there, and seeing what people take from it. It?s irrelevant to me if they take exactly what I was giving, as long they get something out of it.

Wh at is you r f avou r it e er a f or f ash ion ?

I?m really attracted to Victorian and Rococo aesthetics. There are so many different eras of fashion I enjoy.

Generally when it comes to my own expression in fashion, which is an extension of my art, I dress up for fun and? express that fantasy on myself

Th e collision of f ash ion an d ar t is alm ost in evit able. Th ey ?r e su r r ou n din g t h e sam e cr eat ive sph er e. Th ey ?r e bot h deeply r oot ed in self expr ession . Wh en f or you r self , did you f in d you r self f ascin at ed by exper im en t in g w it h aest h et ics in su ch a w ay?

I?ve always been interested in different looks. Looking back, I really connected with Japanese culture, as a child I had Victorian dolls... I can see why that marriage happened. As a teenager I did like to dress strangely but in a way that was... not subscribing to any style, just experimenting. And my art followed a similar trajectory. As a teen, I started thinking ?oh, art is a hobby that I do? .? It took me a while to call myself an artist. But as a teen? I?ve spoken to a lot of teens at the gallery who have asked me ?how do you find your style?? And I?ve tried to put myself in their shoes and remember the time when you?re looking at all these artist that you admire, I think it was interesting for me to compare myself as 12/13 to these established artists thinking ?I?ll never be that good,? but

as my own art. Generally that Victorian/Rococo aesthetic with a modern twist? edge is something I enjoy the most. I?ve been recently trying to embrace Japanese alternative fashion. Specifically the fashion I wear is Lolita fashion, which is an expression of ultra femininity which rejects the male gaze and is a way to embrace your own self. I enjoy that about fashion, that it takes various aspects from different cultures and aesthetics and mixes them and creates something new and interesting.

no, I think that kind of having that thought that you don?t necessarily have a fully fledged style yet, and trying to take pieces from various artist and someday it clicks. The same is for fashion and art for. I still experiment with a lot, but they all feel like me. Naturally you will evolve and grow and progress.

I t h in k w h at you cau gh t on t o w as t h e scien ce of cr eat ion . You can f in d t h at equ at ion .. t ak e t h is gen r e... t h is gen r e, m ix it ... m ak e a n ew on e, it ?s in n ovat ion . You f in d t h at w it h an y m ediu m ? m u sic m ain ly. You can go ver y f ar w it h t h at .

I?ve had a few pieces I?ve done that explore that concept... trying to find this equation of art and expressing that formula. I find as someone who sells art at the gallery, that it?s fulfilling in terms of having eyes on it and interacting with it, and also just the honour of knowing that my art connects with them enough and they would spend their money on it, it makes me happy to know that my art is in different places around the world. Sometimes I?ll have a piece and I?ll think ?oh, this hasn?t been selling, so I?ll take it home with me,? but then I?ll be about to take it and someone will say ?This is the best piece I?ve ever seen? ? Understanding that perspective as someone who is a scientist and an artist, trying to figure out that formula? is it possible, you know? It?s really interesting to think about.

I f eel t h at w ay w h en I look at you r piece ?Love Sick .? I see an d f eel it in a n ew w ay each t im e.. it ?s ver y viscer al.

About a year and a half ago I got out of an abusive relationship. At the time I don?t?think I understood the extent of the abuse? the effect it had on my art. It was my escape. When I look at my old pieces I have that reaction. There?s one piece that is now sold, it was a painting? a large painting of a women with a birdcage on her head. Her head was bigger then mine... something about this painting kept drawing people in in a weird way. Someone said it made them uncomfortable. I put something into it that made some very emotional. When it was at the gallery, I would look over and someone would be crying looking at the painting. I didn?t admit how personal it was at the time and I think that ended up showing up in the piece. The person who bought it came into the gallery and burst into tears and her husband explained she had her own cage and she broke free. It?s interesting that something I create can have that visceral connection with someone and that it can lead to that experience without even knowing someone, and having an impact on their emotions. It is important and meaningful. Cathartic for the both of us.

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Wh at is exact ly is Lolit a f ash ion , an d w h y t o som eon e w h o doesn?t k n ow , w ou ld t h in k it ?s con t en t iou s?

I think a lot of the times in the Western world they hear Lolita and think the book, the movie, precocious young girl , which is strange, it shouldn?t be on her being precocious it should be on the pedophile... but? just a bit of the background. It emerged in Harajuku and as a lot of Japanese alternative fashions are rebellion against tight laced uniform culture, and specifically Lolita fashion can be worn by any gender. It was a specific amplification of femininity, as a rebellion. You see this sweet princess, ruffles and lace and you don?t think rebellion, but it was subversive. There?s three different styles, sweet, classic and gothic.

Gothic as you would think as the Western perception, similar motifs and silhouette is the most important part. And classic which is inspired by historical fashion. Which is mostly what I wear. And sweet is like pink, sunshine, teddy bears, fun prints. That one from my experience is the one that people react the most intensely to. In north America we have goth, vintage... but you don?t see super pink girly stuff style as much. Sometimes people will stare, and I?ll tell myself it?s not a negative thing, they just haven?t seen this type of thing before. I can?t put their intent onto them looking and I can?t blame them for looking because I?m dressed really weird. The controversy surrounding it? I hear a lot of people say ?why are you dressing like a little girl? Like a princess?? And for me it?s almost a demonification of femininity, which is interesting because when men still, as they grow up, identify with little boys things, it?s not like ?oh. that?s cool, cool hobby.? But expressing yourself in a girly way is something frowned upon. Especially when it?s so extravagant. I?ve always considered myself a tomboy, and throughout my teenage years, I was always one of the guys, which looking back is a harmful self perception of my own female identity. And through my crappy relationship, I felt stifled in my ability to express my own fashion, and that?s why art... no one could take art away. It?s controversial because people associate it with a fetish, and I?m sure for people it is, but for me it?s not. It?s not a sexual thing at all, it?s just expressing myself. This specific fashion isn?t inherently sexual, and I think that says more about the people looking at it, that are associating little girls with it and sexuality... I don?t think that?s on me.

You ar e solidif yin g t h e zeit geist in you r ow n w ay. Not h in g exist s in a vacu u m . Th e on ly w ay f or it t o be absor bed by societ y, or t o be accept ed? is t o con st an t ly pu t it in it ?s f ace, u n t il it is. An d I t h in k t h at ?s exact ly w h at you ?r e doin g. An d I com m en d you f or it .

I?m trying to make something new? I think you mentioned that earlier, and I?m going to latch onto it. I?m just creating my own culture in my own way.

TAROTSCOPES "Tarot guided horoscopes intuitively pulled for each zodiac sign.

Take what resonates & leave the rest.

Always remember these are just my insights and channeled messages, the magic is within you and you are the master of your own fate."

- Leanne Vanderham Ar ies The Tower Reversed Something may not go according to plans or you feel like everything is falling apart. Spirit reminds you this is nothing to worry or stress about. As all that is falling apart or not working out, wasn?t meant to. There may be some foundations, values, or perspectives you are living by that are no longer serving you. It?s time to rebuild. Personal change and transformation is calling you. You know exactly where you?re at and exactly who you want to be. Now is the time to put action toward your desires. To finally show up for yourself and start making the changes you want to see. There is major transformation coming your way, all for your highest good and growth!

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*** Kyla Mayne is a Psychology major at Queen's University with a passion for all things creative. A daydreamer since day one, she is inspired by both the world that surrounds her, and the one in her imagination. Working primarily in oils, her unique, eye-catching portraits incorporate a variety of different themes and motifs, tackling such concepts as the progression of fashion throughout the ages, the beauty, power and diversity of humans, and the splendor of nature.

SHOP KYLA'S ART @ WWW.MARTELLOALLEY.COM IG: @PHANTASMAGORIABYKYLA / @ARISTOKYLA

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Tau r u s

Vir go

Five of Wands Reversed

The Sun

There is some conflict that you are intensely trying to avoid, and what you really need is to face it full on, full speed, like the determined bull you are! I feel there is a build up of emotions within, you?ve been trying so hard to avoid conflict, that now it is all bottled up and you need to find a healthy way to release and express. You may be feeling a bit confused and unclear at the moment. You are being called to connect with your inner guidance system. Hold space for yourself, its time to do the inner work.

Avoidance will not help you, its time to face your fears, your emotions, and any inner tension. Find a balance between the heart and the mind, then you may find more clarity on what you deeply desire.

The days ahead are looking brighter. You?re feeling more optimistic and ready to bring more joy, pleasure and playfulness into your daily life. You?re being called to start embracing life more and open yourself up to new perspectives and new ways of living. Wake up each day with the intention that it will be a great day. You may really be waking up to the abundance that surrounds you on a daily basis. Just the sun itself and its abundance of warmth and light. Consciously choose to shift away from constantly criticizing or feeling lack. Allow yourself to feel like a child again, excited, adventurous, positive, and playful. We should always have a balance of work and play. May this be your invitation to embrace that childlike spirit.

Gem in i

Libr a

King of Swords

King of Pentacles

You are going through some kind of transformation ? likely to do with the mind, communication, perspectives. You may really be opening up to new ways of thinking, new perspectives and new ways of communicating. There is lots of mental clarity, ideas flowing in, and discovering your truth. You?re very focused right now on developing your intellect and mindset. May really see some mindset shifts. You may even come across the opportunity to lead or teach others. You?re feeling intellectually powerful that?s for sure. Your curious mind has served you well. You?re really claiming your power, stepping into your truth and sharing your wisdom with others.

Can cer The Devil You may be feeling a bit restricted at the moment and must focus on how you can break free from the restraints of your fears and your past. There may be some kind of situation you have gotten yourself into that truly doesn?t serve your highest good. You?re feeling stuck and stagnant, but spirit reminds you the strength, power and courage resides in you, you have the ability to free yourself. But it will take hard work and conscious effort. You may really need to take a step back from all the superficial energy in your life.

Watch out for deception, being mislead or manipulated. If something sounds too good to be true, it likely is. Keep your guard up and be cautious of what you sign up for.

Leo Two of Swords Reversed Things may feel a bit confusing and there may be a lot of mental cloudiness. You may be feeling a bit overwhelmed or overloaded and are unsure how to move forward. There is some indecision and uncertainty about something and a need to face things honestly and with discernment. You are being called to trust your intuition, that little voice inside you. To take a step back from all that is overwhelming you and allow yourself to assess it all and feel which choice is in alignment with your truth. There is a need to be more open minded and see beyond any illusions or programming. Its time to find your truth and connect with all the wisdom you hold within.

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There is security and stability on its way or perhaps has already manifested. You?re feeling grounded, resourceful, and organized. You?ve been nurturing your plans and you?re seeing how much its going to pay off in the long run. It?s a great time for business or moving forward with your plans. There may be some opportunities for material wealth, leadership or financial abundance coming. Your self-discipline is serving you well and as you continue to take responsibility for your life and your actions you will find your success. An increase in confidence, worthiness and feelings of abundance is likely. Success and accomplishment is coming and will likely support you long-term.

Scor pio Four of Swords Reversed It?s time to take things more slowly, don?t feel you need to rush things right now. Don?t take on too many things at once, its okay to say no or turn things down. There may be a lot of mental clutter, overwhelming feelings or thoughts. There is a need for rest and reflection. Meditation may be really beneficial to help clear and calm the mind. Its time to take a break and recharge, don?t overwork yourself. You may feel called to re-evaluate how you are giving away and using your energy. You may be feeling a bit restless and a need to start taking action but it is best you recharge and prepare. Its not all about being successful and achieving your goals, your well being and happiness matter more.

Sagit t ar iu s Ten of Cups You?re feeling emotionally supported and well. There may be some improvements in home life or a change in home life that brings more happiness. You?re finding inner peace and really creating a safe, loving and supportive environment around you. You?re being called to enjoy the present moment, show love and gratitude to your friends and loved ones. Even find ways to connect more or deeper with your friends and loved ones. You really need connection at this time. Allow yourself to do more of what brings you emotional fulfillment. There is a strong focus on your emotional well being, holding space and honouring your emotions and finding a sense of inner balance.

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Capr icor n

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Two of Pentacles Reversed There is a need for inner balance and grounding your energies. You?re all wired up and ready to go but its time to slow down because you?ve been neglecting certain areas of yourself or your life. Make sure to check in with your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well being. It seems you?ve been focusing your energies too much on the external and need to focus on your internal energies. Self-care and self-love are calling you, its time to nurture yourself. If something doesn?t work out or comes to an end, don?t let yourself get too hung up on it, remember life is all about cycles. The end of the old to make space for the new. Allow yourself to have more faith and trust in yourself and the world.

Aqu ar iu s The Hierophant Everything may really start to come together for you. Although there is a reminder here to not be afraid to reach out for help. There is an energy of teaching, learning and knowledge expansion. You may be either on the giving or receiving end of the information. You are gaining much spiritual wisdom and may go through an awakening or ascension. Be open to new information and perspectives. Lots of opportunity to explore and discovery yourself even further. You may feel motivated to re-evaluate your beliefs and values. It?s a great time to really connect with like-minded people or to join a course or community. You are really craving to learn more, to advance your skills and to find what you really feel passion for.

Pisces Queen of Pentacles You?re really nurturing your goals or this may be your sign to start being more practical with your goals.

There may be a need for more structure and self-discipline. You need to trust yourself more and be confident in your amazing gifts, talents and qualities. Don?t sell yourself short. Allow yourself to bring more happiness, compassion, generosity and stability in your life. There may be financial stability on its way, especially if you?ve been working really hard. Abundance is coming but will you be receptive to it? It?s time to create a more peaceful, balanced, practical and abundant life for yourself. You?re being called to be more loving and nurturing to yourself and others.

Lean n e Van der h am is an Astrologer, Card Reader, Energy worker and Spiritual Mentor.

Consciously connected to the cosmos, a little obsessed with collecting crystals and manifesting with the moon phases.

TAROTSCOPES PROVIDED BY LEANNE VANDERHAM IG: @GLOWWITHLEANNE WWW.GLOWWITHTHECOSMOS.COM JAN/FEB 48

S.O.S .

Written by Matt Yeroschenko Zeitgeist is a broad, lofty concept to boil down into a few strung-together thoughts or brush strokes. It's summed up as 'the spirit of the times' and the spirit of any human is the hardest part to define, let alone all of them at once. Yet here we are.

Let?s give it a whirl: It's being on a road trip and instead of looking forward through the windshield or backwards through the rearview, it's looking left or right through the window for a moment. It's not concerned with where we're going. Though it affects where we are, it's not especially concerned with how we got here either. It?s concerned with today.

There's a lot going on today. A lot.

Streams of information flow into our ocean of consciousness - an endless array of them - and beside them rivers of bullshit do the same. We're being flooded with data day and night, all of it the truest version of the truth. Most of it?s fiction. We not only reject facts, but the very concept of facts at all.

At the same time there are people who have designed machines to direct these streams and rivers to us based on their temperature. They've figured out that the hotter they can make our oceans ? the more divisive and enraging and dramatic the current ? the more space we'll make for their rivers of bullshit and lies. They divert the healthy, usable stuff and turn the tap to eleven on the lava. It's just business.

And so here we are, overloaded with so much data that it's impossible to effectively separate fact from fiction. Here we are, tasked with the duty of being our own gatekeepers without a means to filter

out the garbage because if the narrative can't be controlled it can still be overwhelmed. Here we are overdosing on mistruths and outright lies - mostly just the ones that upset us - stuck in echo chambers espousing the same (mis)information and dismissing, even vilifying anything to the contrary.

It?s us or them.

We're a product now. Our attention is currency traded by very rich people disconnected from humanity. Here we are adjusting reality?s contrast dial, which looks nice at first but gets out of hand quickly until everything is black and white. We've been turned to binary beings, and nuance has all but dissolved completely from public discourse. This is the plague of the information age.

Yet here we are. Here you are. In a world devoid of moderation, you?re at the end of a compilation of art by a whole host of artists. Art, where everything is grey area and you're always partly right. The glass is always half something and you decide. Art, where nothing is fact, where nothing is definite, and where sometimes, somehow, nothing is everything. Art, where the customer is actually always right. The last bastion of nuance in an otherwise binary world.

And artists. The foot soldiers fighting to let us live in the undefined grey areas of our existence. A Lego under the foot of the age of manufactured contrast. Artists who, subject to the same machines controlling the streams and rivers that dump into our oceans of consciousness, throw icebergs in the lava flow to watch it cool, harden, and

cease. Who push us to consider what's really true and what true even means. Artists defending our right to nuance. Guarding our spirit. Saving our souls.

Tomorrow might be different.

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