the old bureau
horror and fairytales
horror & fairytales It’s safe to say that the last year has been a pretty surreal one, and sometimes strange and uncertain times lead us to escape into the comfort of other worlds. The art and text included in this issue explore these other realities and fictions, more specifically those of horror and fairytales, through a number of lenses. But also they examine very real and human experiences. The work that unfolds over the following pages is magical, violent, monstrous, joyful, and melancholy, but most importantly created by a collection of incredibly talented people whose craft we are honoured to be able to share. From illustrations of fantastical food, animals and plants, to almost mythological and unsettling interventions into nature, to intricate and delicate watercolours. From a history of fairytales, to emotional and devastating poetry, to reviews of what amuses us and comforts us. From the grotesque, the colourful, the frightening, to the vibrant. We hope you find something of yourself in this issue. There’s a hugely rich scope of perspectives to be explored. Izzy and Olivia
contents 5………. Dana Sherwood 9……… Book Reviews 11…….. Ann Massal 15…….. EVERYONE’S A SUSPECT - Scream at 25 19…….. Sophia Ji 21…….. Camilla Hanney 25…….. Jonathan Westmuckett-Martin 27…….. A Brief History of the Fairy Tale, Izzy Woods 31…….. Teeson Shen 35……. Gyo by Junji Ito, review by Jason Kerley 37…….. Ciriza 45……. An Ode to Black Christmas’ Jess, Olivia Middelboe 47…….. Tiz Creel 50……. Playlist 51…….. Menstruation in Horror Films, Olivia Middelboe 55…….. Jocelyn McGregor 60……. Paula Rego Does Fairy Tales, Izzy Woods 63…….. Oliver McConnie 67…….. Things We Love 69…….. Bios 73…….. Credits & Notes
Illustration by Jason Kerley
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book reviews Published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2017 (incidentally one of the most aesthetically pleasing collections out there), This Young Monster is a beautiful ode to the artists, characters and figures who take on and create monstrous forms, penned by London based writer Charlie Fox. It’s a comforting and nostalgic text for me, one which I’ve returned to more than once - and to the displeasure of anyone who cares about the condition of books, is a bit worse for wear. And if anything should convince you to pick up a copy, the blurb features some glowing praise from the ‘Pope of Trash’ himself, John Waters, for whom Fox’s ‘breath of proudly putrefied air is really something to behold'. Norwegian musician Jenny Hval’s debut novel Perlebryggeriet (Pearl Brewery) was published in 2009 (an English language translation, Paradise Rot: A Novel, was released by Verso in 2018). The novel is a beautiful but dark evocation of queer desire, mixed with the growing intrusion of nature and decay, and blurring of reality and dreams. Set in a fictitious English university town named Aybourne, Norwegian biology student Jo finds herself living in an old brewery, divided by thin, temporary walls, sharing her space with another inhabitant, the mysterious Carral. Published by Virago in 2020, Hag is a collection of short stories revisiting and reinterpreting folktales from the British isles, penned by a group of wonderful women. Beautifully illustrated by Sophy Hollington, Hag features contributions from Daisy Johnson, Eimear McBride, Emma Glass, Kirsty Logan, Natasha Carthew, Mahsuda Snaith, Liv Little, Naomi Booth, Imogen Hermes Gowar and Irenosen Okojie. From The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, a folktale from Orkney, to The Mermaid and the Man of Cury, from Cornwall, to The Dauntless Girl, a tale from Norfolk, these writers have rich material to revive these lost stories, and to ground them in both the past and the present. 9
Illustration by Sophia Ji
EVERYBODY’S A SUSPECT! celebrating 25 years of scream
Olivia Grace Middelboe
Given that we’re approaching Halloween, and in honour of the 25th anniversary of Wes Craven’s seminal meta horror masterpiece, we thought that we’d revisit the 1996 classic (as it’s a personal favourite of mine and Izzy had never seen it). Here are our main takeaways: (*SPOILERS AHEAD*)
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Drew Barrymore looks great as a blonde And definitely made the right decision choosing to play Casey. The opening sequence to Scream is iconic.
Everyone needs to stop moving so slowly when they’re trying to escape the killer Why is everyone always pausing to catch their breath and look around? Just keep running. Stop standing around and walking when you’ve just almost died. Is Billy hot or not? As committed fans of the 90s boy, this was a subject of much discussion. It took us most of the film to determine what our final verdict was: Good hair (we can forgive it looking slightly greasy at times), pretty ok clothes, decent face. We’d probably think he was hot if we saw him in real life.
Stu is the real heartthrob of this film He’s so weird but we’re completely obsessed with him. He’s got such a great face. After Travis in Clueless he’s one of our absolute favourite 90s boys. And also Matthew Lillard seems like the nicest guy. We love Gale Weathers Courtney looks great here (even with the questionable highlights). We love the power suits. Is this what all American high schools are like? We’d like to go to this one. Maybe without the murders though.
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Billy needs to stop emotionally manipulating Sidney Sorry but it’s only been a year since her mother was murdered. It’s ok if maybe she doesn’t feel like sleeping with her boyfriend. Billy needs to stop making everything about himself. Also there’s a lot of coercive behaviour going on. Sidney can grieve as long as she needs to. Why do none of the teenagers seem to understand the gravity of the situation they’re in? Stopping to throw a house party when there’s a potential serial killer roaming about? Come on guys, you’re just inviting more murders. Dewey really needs to get rid of that moustache There’s always time to slip in a little bit of the male gaze in the middle of an attempted murder sequence Was it really necessary to throw in a shot that literally zooms out of Tatum’s arse while she’s trying to escape the killer? Tatum and Sidney are the two female leads of this film (besides Gale) and as Sidney is our ‘final girl’, Tatum gets relegated (or is the closet to) the archetype of the ‘bad girl’ in the slasher film. While the film does go against tropes, it still has its archetypes. In her murder Tatum gets a bit of a raw deal. Her death is particularly horrible but also sexualises her. She becomes just a body on display.
Randy is precious and needs to be protected And if he’s taught us anything, it’s that ‘There’s a formula to it. A very simple formula!’ Scream is the perfect level of camp but also has its scary moments It’s a great introductory slasher film for people who aren’t massive horror fans. It gives you a good grounding in the tropes (thank you Randy). 16
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The reveal Izzy’s verdict: Liked it. Matched up with her predictions. Maybe Sidney’s dad’s reappearance was an unnecessary plot point. My verdict: Some of the performances might be slightly dated but Billy and Stu’s chemistry is excellent. Am I the only one who thinks there’s a lot of homoeroticism going on?
There’s nothing to do now but wait for Scream 5 and keep our fingers crossed for good things. Happy Halloween.
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Unspoken - Give her a voice (Witches Incantation) Witches or women This war on our flesh A compartment they once came from, For nine months their own nest, They too were excreted with blood, gore and mess. An unsavory image they choose to reject Instead, the right to birth they protect. They choose to cause vicious obstruction To regulate the choice of our reproduction In the fight for our freedom, women close at their side Now free state won, back to the bedroom, lie down! legs spread wide For the greater good of Ireland? Obey. Oblige. Let them do their bit. And who’ll give a shit? The Irish mammy, mother Ireland, blessed virgin pure A far cry from Ms. Magdalene, that rogue and sinful hoor These perverted standards can’t be achieved, A society of such morals can never be pleased Carnal lust will cause mistrust confine. can’t stand the sight us Impure thoughts will cause Blasphemous Is that what she did? God forbid. Larceny. Vagrancy. Assault. Whatever the reason, it’s always our fault 22
Swept under the carpet, Behind closed doors The only way to deal with our society’s whores trapped in the past, not willing to see This distorted sense of sexual respectability They say time is a healer Well what use is that? So many lives wasted they’ll never get back Obstructed by the blurry intersection between church and state, Their stolen short lives resonate, deprecate ‘Not so pretty now’ they say because beauty is vanity and vanity vice, a head full of hair will come at a price Shaven and beaten, degraded and broken Identities lost, words unspoken Culture of silence, culture of loss While jesus scorns down from up on his cross Symphysiotomy will save her from sin So Carve into her pelvis, hack through her skin JUST DON'T HARM HER WOMB Her one precious asset, a fertilized tomb, That conjuring chamber where foetus will bloom Who cares she won’t walk for the rest of her life At least she’s served duty as mother and wife Separate from baby alone in a room, The memories they shared locked up in her womb A groundskeeper tasked with burying the remains A stain he must carry on his own moral shame He trips, he stumbles, box falls half open, flash of flesh, corpse unconcealed his conscience suddenly revealed 23
Haunted with imagery of his load’s former existence He’s sick of it all, picks up his hammer and slams another nail into the wall, an acknowledgement, a representation for an unmarked grave, small offering for a child that never received chance to misbehave And just as this infant is carried to its grave His secret too must remain enslaved. They must not know. of this conscience he must tow. yet another innocent child that we’ll never see grow Scrabble through earth for these unfortunate youth, Yearning, mourning, searching for the truth treated like waste, thrown into the bin Is this the result of a life lived in sin? A call for reclamation, let's give her a voice lets abort order, we need to seek choice Forget Kathleen na houilann, virtuous she Replace her with monster, savage and beast Mother Ireland’s new voice should give them a fright Bring us a banshee, she’ll scream them white Let’s refuse to be veiled of our own lawful right keening woman buckled over, wailing, screaming, deafening bare feet, loose hair, loose morals people stare. For all that she mourns It just isn’t fair Illegitimate babies exported by Catholic Orders. Now women face time unless they cross borders Women are fearful, swollen with sin Forced to tread water to part from their kin And those who can’t choose to flee in the night Must suffer in silence and live with their plight.
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A Brief (and accidentally feminist) History of the Fairy Tale
Izzy Woods
In the contemporary psyche, it might be the colourful, musical Disney adaptations that come to mind when the phrase ‘fairy tale’ is uttered. Perhaps at a push, it could be the more gruesome tales penned by the Brothers Grimm. However, researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon found that some fairy tales have roots from before the earliest literary records, with one believed to have originated during the Bronze Age. It was only during the 17th century that the name ‘fairy tale’ (conte de fées in French) was ascribed to them by Madame d’Aulnoy, who herself was known for writing fairy tales. Meanwhile, some folklorists prefer to use the German term Märchen or ‘wonder tale’. ‘Mӓrchen’ is the diminutive of ‘mär’ which means story or tale, and therefore signifies a ‘little story’. Combined with the commonly used opening ‘once upon a time’, and the less common German preamble ‘in den alten Zeiten, wo das Wünschen noch geholfen hat’ (‘in the old days when wishing still helped’), we learn that fairy tales were originally little stories from a long time ago when the world was still magic. The Brothers Grimm would have sided with 21st century researchers when they committed some of these tales to paper in the 19th century, as they believed that they were passed down generations orally, originating in a shared cultural history dating back to the birth of the Indo-European language family. If this is the case, it is likely that the tales began and lived on through the lives of women, as storytelling had long been their domain. The tales themselves reflect some of the hopes and fears of women: that they would find a prince, or a castle, or just simply someone or something that could provide a happy ending; or, on the flip side, that their children would be taken away, they would be mistreated by men, or that they would succumb to the process of ageing. The popularity of fairy tales in Europe surged in the 17th century through the salons of Paris, which were gatherings hosted by aristocratic women, intended to discuss matters of concern to them. During this time, a parlour game based on fairy tales came into vogue. Individuals would retell an old tale or rework an old theme, simultaneously creating new stories and reflecting upon aspects of aristocratic life. These tales often featured young and clever aristocratic girls whose lives were controlled by the whims of overbearing men, as well as tales in which groups of wise fairies stepped in to put the world to rights (anyone else thinking of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather? Sidenote: Disney’s Sleeping Beauty actually passes the Bechdel test...). 27
Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Feminist icons. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, 1959
What is becoming clear is that fairy tales were never meant to be primarily enjoyed by children. The Victorian era ushered in renewed interest in fairy tales, which can be attributed to the publication and popularity of Grimms’ Fairy Tales. It is likely that this is where the transition from wives’ tales to children’s tales occurred, since the 19th century was the first time childhood was regarded as a period of life in its own rite. Grimms’ Fairy Tales retained all of the violence (particularly when it came to punishing villains) but omitted any allusion to sex, rendering the tales more appropriate for the attention of children. The moralising trend in the Victorian era also altered tales to teach lessons, which coincided with the gradual change in the use of language relating to the women in these stories. In later editions, there was a marked shift towards language which condemned women who deviated from what was considered the perfect Christian woman. This was a far cry from the original tales where luck counted more towards a happy ending than obedience. The emphasis in these tales on women’s passivity and beauty served to legitimise and support the dominant gender system of the period. Increased interest in the genre meant that there was a rise in ‘fairy paintings’. The popularity of fairy tales and the new visual language of the period meant that these versions have remained in the public psyche, arguably a far cry from the stories passed down through generations of women. Where colour illustrations were used alongside written fairy tales, the characters were typically white. With the introduction of the Disney adaptations, beginning in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, there began a trend where white was equated with good, and black with evil. In Snow White, the young princess’ skin is ‘as white as snow’, she is surrounded by white birds, and when she is laid down after her death, she holds a bouquet of white flowers. 28
Meanwhile, the evil queen dresses entirely in black, and lives in a black castle in a dark forest, filled with black bats and owls. The effects of such distinctions in Disney adaptations have been studied by Elizabeth Yeoman, who conducted a study in which children were encouraged to write ‘disruptive’ stories that went beyond limiting storylines concerning race, gender, and class. While many of the children demonstrated an ability to move beyond narrow portrayals of gender, there remained a conflation of ‘white’ with goodness, beauty, and happy endings. Eurocentric masculine-dominated fairy tales were criticised by feminists in the 1970s who were concerned that they - particularly the damsel in distress figure - negatively shaped women’s perceptions of themselves and what they could expect from their lives. Feminist reimaginations were popularised, perhaps most famously in Angela Carter’s collection of short stories The Bloody Chamber (1979). A common device in these retellings is the use of recognisable markers which allow writers to communicate points of social criticism. Author Helen Oyeyemi has also taken on the task of reimagining these tales to highlight social issues. In her 2014 novel Boy, Snow, Bird, she adapted the story of Snow White to contest the original’s repeated assertion that beauty required skin as white as snow. An example of a 19th century ‘fairy painting’. Theodor von Holst, The Fairy Lovers, c. 1840
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In 2020 Penguin brought out a series of Feminist Fairytales, where four authors, including Malorie Blackman and Kamila Shamsie, reimagined classic fairy tales for ‘modern boys and girls’. Bluebeard and Hansel and Gretel are amongst the stories, which discuss themes such as immigration, climate change, patriarchy, and compassion. Their release was largely met with positive praise, but some traditionalists claimed that such retellings are indoctrinating children. But haven’t fairy tales always done this? As Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett says in her review of the series, “I was raised by Disney to believe that I needed a 22-inch waist and a prince with a castle to truly get by in life” (The Guardian, 2020). Hopefully our priorities have shifted with more contemporary retellings. So which iteration of fairy tales are these traditionalists trying to protect? Those passed orally from the Bronze Age, or those retold by 17th century female aristocrats? Perhaps the ones committed to paper by the Brothers Grimm then? The most likely explanation is that they’re missing the point. Fairy tales have managed to exist and evolve all over the world because they stem from common human experience, they have never just fitted in one box. There’s no happily ever after for the history of fairy tales, we’ll just have to see where they go next. 30
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gyo junji ito
review by jason kerley
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Until recently, (aside from a hazy memory of the Uzumaki film adaptation), my experience of Horror Mangaka Junji Ito’s work was limited to single, grotesque panels stripped from context and used for clout on Tumblr feeds and bootleg t-shirts. Then, a good friend of mine, whilst staring into a small cave in Glenan Wood, convinced me to seek out The Enigma of Amigara Fault. Aside from being 31 pages when, to my mind, it should’ve stopped at 30, The Enigma of Amigara Faults is in many ways a near perfect work of art. But because of its short, almost utilitarian, storytelling, The Enigma is found tucked at the back of, and as a companion to, a much larger and more rambunctious tale; Gyo. Although Gyo shares The Enigma of Amigara Fault’s confidence to present horror in daylight and crowds and with unorthodox subjects, it lacks the understated and cerebral discomfort of the short it shares its binding with. Gyo instead makes you squirm in its own, less subdued way. Where, to my mind, The Enigma of Amigara Fault’s final, superfluous page is explicit in a way that it needn't be, Gyo shines most when it is at its most visceral and palpable. Gyo is LOUD and that's why it works. It’s bombast clambers and clatters through panels, which are made all the more vibrant with unique and powerful onomatopoeia: GASHUNK! TWIP! SHHHHOSSHHHHHHH! The chaos comes to a simmer occasionally, where the dialogue is so exposition heavy it rarely feels like the characters are talking to one another but instead, directly to the reader. These quiet moments, although feeling monotone and riddled with cliches, serve a function perhaps more important than good storytelling. These beats, like the chugging climb of a roller coaster, just get you grasping onto the rail before the loops. The book has a 3rd story wedged between the other two, The Sad Tale of the Principal Post, a brief and forgettable tale that I didn't appreciate until I considered the strange parallels and contrasts of the book’s namesake and finale. The Sad Tale of the Principal Post is a peculiar palate cleanser between two distinctly distinctive pieces of horror; one gigantic in its imposing scope and vigor, one in the intimidation that comes from the cards held to its chest, not those played. 36
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9.6.2016 THE BANSHEES WITH THEIR STOLEN SCALPS RUN AT SUNSET. THEY OPEN THEIR MOUTHS TO SCREAM AND IT IS A CHORUS OF CLOCKS AND BELLS. THEY HAVE COME TO CLAW THE COPPER FROM THE BODIES AGAIN. LOTTERY. THEY ARE GOING HOME TO DISSOLVE INTO THE EARTH WALL NOW. I CAN SMELL IT ANDN THAT SOUND WON’T STOP THE BLIND ONES LAY BREATHING IN A THICK COCOON OF DUST AND LIGHT. THEIR EYES ARE CROSSING AND THEIR THROATS ARE MADE OF SHARP BLACK SCRATCH. THEY BREATHE FROM CHALK TUBES, ONCE TONGUES. NOSTRILS FULL WITH GRAY MATTER. HANDS HAVE NO FINGERS, FEET HAVE BEEN STOLEN, HEADS HAVE HOLES. IT HAS STARTED TO SEEP THROUGH. MOST SOLIDS HAVE GONE EXTINCT NOW. NO MEMORY. NO TIME… FOR THERE IS NO DEVICE FOR TIMETELLER. ONLY THE SOUND. WE WAIT TOGETHER IN THE ABYSMAL, TILTED, INFINITE HOURS. SELF FLES ALL - ONE ALONE AS ONE THEN I AWOKE UNDER THE PRIMORDIAL WATERS. EYES FULL OF OILY BLUE BLACK SERUM. IN THE PRESENCE OF THE NOTHING. THE SHIFTING OF THE NOTHING. THE MASS OF THE NOTHING… AND THE OH SO TANGIBLE SOMETHING OF THE SOMETHING. IN THE WINDOW, THE TINY WHITE HALO, THREATENING. AS FOR ALWAYS, HATHOR BIRTHED THE SUN EGG. THE SLOBBERING BIG BOSS TRAMPLING HORIZONS WITH ITS JOWLS DRIPPING BREAKFAST YOLKS OF THE DEAD. GALLOPING ON MARES OF THE NIGHT, IN HIS CYCLICAL DANCE UNDERWORLD TO OVERWORLD. CARESSING THE SKINS OF THE DARK UNDERSLUMBER, AND RAISING THEM IN LUMINOUS FLAGS ABOVE OUR HEADS UPON WAKING: YOU ARE ALL LIVE CHILDREN I HAD A HABIT OF STARING AT THE SUN. AND THEN SHE APPEARED, AND MY FACE SLID INTO HER WATERS. OUR LADYTOOK ONE OF MY EYES AND GIFTED IT AS STAR TO THE SKY OF THE DARK WORLD UNDER.THE OTHER KEEPS WATCH HERE. BUT SHE GIVES GIFTS. SHE CUT FOR ME HER EYE, SHE CUT FOR ME HER TONGUE, SHE CUT FOR 41
ME HER HEART. CHOCHAS Y COJONES. SHE SAID: YOU PEOPLE ARE THE CONSCIOUS BACTERIA OF THE EARTH COMBINE THE GLAMOUR OF GALACTIC POWER WITH EARTH FLESH. LAY YOUR HANDS UPON ME AND PUSHHHHHHH/ COMO ES ARRIBA, TODO ES ABAJO… I AM: MANSLAUGHTER. OUR FUNERALS BEGIN AS SOON AS NEW FLESH HITS OXYGEN, MAKE IT WORTH IT. MAKE IT BRILLIANT. CRAWL THROUGH THE CARNAL VEIL AND EMBODY SPIRIT IN VESSEL. SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR POWER, AND KILL TO LIVE. THAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY. USE THE GIFTS. THERE IS LIFE AND THERE IS DEATH. THERE IS NO MIDDLE. AND DOUBT GETS US SHOT. BELIEF IS YOUR WEAPON. IT IS GOLD. IT IS UNTOUCHABLE. PHANTASIA - FANTASY - IT EVOLUTION. IT IS REAL. EVERYTHING WE IMAGINE COMES TO BE. AND IT IS THE ONLY TRUE FREEDOM. DREAM. THINK IT. BELIEVE IT. AND CREATE IT ON EARTH. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. THERE IS NO OTHER OCCUPATION. OUR ONLY TRUE OCCUPATION IS TO IMAGINE, TRUST, AND KILL. KILL WITH THE POWERS OF PHANTASIA UNIQUELY BESTOWED UPON US. AND KILL THE MASS PRODUCED PHANTASIA OF VAPID ILLUSORY INCUBUS. WE ARE NOT FACTORY FRACTALS. KILL BEFORE WE LET OUR SOULS BECOME ENSLAVED TO THAT PARASITIC FALSE FORCE THAT DRAINS TRUE POWER AND WAS NEVER EVER MEANT TO BE OURS. WE ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF CONSEQUENCE. WE RE MORE THAN OUR VESSELS CONVEY. WE ARE BEINGS OF IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY, AND ELEMENT. WE ARE BEING OF COUNTLESS TALE, EVERY CELL HOLDING INFINITE TONGUES OF ANCESTOR AND INFINITE EYES OF GALACTIC DUST. CREATE FUNERALS IN ORDER TO CREATE BIRTHS. TRANSCEND. KILL AND TRANSCEND. PRESERVE THE ANCESTORS AND BEND THE CLASSICS. BEND FLESH. OBLITERATE ILLUSORY PROGRAMMING. REWRITE YOUR DESTINY. YOUR TIME IS YOURS. MATAR PARA VIVIR. EVERY - THING IS WAR. MIASMAS OF UNIONS AND OPPOSITES. PRESSURE IS OUR FRIEND. RESISTANCE IS OUR FRIEND. PUSH AGAINST WHAT IS NOT TO SHAPE WHAT IS. AND BREATHE. AND CREATE. START NOW. START TINY. JUST START. PUSH AND PULL MATTER UNTIL ALL WE HAVE IS OUR ESSENTIAL PLASMA. DISTILL AND CAST INTO GOLD. UNTOUCHABLE DIVINE MAGIC. THE WRITHING, CHURNING, VOLATILE VITALITY OF PALPABLE MATTER 42
AND ELECTRICITY. IT IS US. IT IS ALL. IT IS THE ONLY. IT IS NOTHING. AND IT IS EVERYTHING. SUMMON THE COURAGE TO FALL IN. FALL INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE PRIMORDIAL ABYSS. AND AT THE GATES OF THE GREAT DRESS, SWALLOW HER. INFINITELY. OUR LADY. SHE IS DEATH. AND SHE IS THE ONLY FREEDOM SHE BRINGS US TO OUR LIVING ESSENCE. SO THAT WE MAY LIVE TRULY. AND THAT WE MAY TRULY LIVE. I WILL TEAR INTO YOU WITH MY TEETH AND LOOSEN THEM THERE UNTIL MY SPINE CRUMBLES AND MY NECK SNAPS. . A TERRIFIC STORM. I LEAVE THEM THERE AS LITTLE GRAVESTONES IN DEDICATION TO ALL MUCH NEEDED EXORCISMS. CAN YOU SEE THE NERVES? CHEW THEM. CHEW THEM SHARP UNTIL THEY BECOME ELECTRIC TOOLS, ENGRAVING ON THOSE TINY BONES EVERY ONE AND EVERY THING WORTH DISTILLING. GIVE THEM THEIR NAMES. AND EXPLODE YOUR FLESH. COMO ES ARRIBA TODO ES ABAJO COMO ES ARRIBA TODO ES ABAJO COMO ES ARRIBA TODO ES ABAJO -
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Illustration by Tiz Creel
An Ode to Black Christmas’ Jess Black Christmas (1974) is regarded as one of the earliest slasher films and has received retroactive acclaim. Many of the fundamental elements of the slasher formula are demonstrated here, from the singular killer stalking a group of teenagers, to the deadly consequences of engaging in any promiscuity, use of drugs or consumption of alcohol. Clark’s film also featured a prototypical ‘final girl’, before it became popularised by later films like John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 slasher Halloween. Jess (portrayed by Olivia Hussey) is a college student residing in a sorority house currently being plagued by a series of obscene and disturbing phone calls by an unknown caller. What proceeds is your typical (although at this point not yet formulaic) series of murders by an unseen killer, who is picking these women off one by one over the Christmas holidays. What I love about Jess, however, is unlike the archetype which would develop, she’s an independent and self-assured young woman who knows where she stands, and what she wants for herself. Faced with an unwanted pregnancy and tortured artist pianist boyfriend (who pressures her to keep the child), Jess exerts her own autonomy over her body and her future, resolutely sticking to her decision to have an abortion. She also bravely makes the decision to ascend the stairs of the house brandishing a fireplace poker, in order to defend the remaining members of her sorority. While her fate may be left ambiguous, Jess provides a version of the ‘final girl’ trope who is resilient and takes ownership of her body and her sexuality, ahead of a strange development in the slasher genre which praises morality, virginity and purity as a requirement for survival. She’s a role model for any young woman. 45
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Spooky Sounds &
Mystical Melodies Rabbit Heart, Florence and the Machine - Teeson Bluebeard, Cocteau Twins - Dana Zombie, The Cranberries - Camilla home with you, FKA twigs - Olivia Fairweather Friend, Kadhja Bonet - Izzy Watchman, What Of The Night?, Besa Negra - Ciriza I Believe in Halloween, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black Jocelyn Générique, Michel Legrand - Ann Reduced To Slime, Wormridden - Jason
Illustration by Tiz Creel
Spellbound, Esquivel! - Tiz Season of the Witch, Lana Del Ray - Jonathan
https://fantasiaeternal.bandcamp.com/album/besa-negra -watchman-what-of-the-night
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getting ‘the curse’: menstruation in horror cinema Olivia Grace Middelboe Earlier this year Michaela Coel’s incredible series I May Destroy You aired. Episode 3’s encounter between Arabella and Biagio featured one of the most honest depictions of a period I have ever seen. A blood clot, a blood-soaked tampon and a used sanitary towel are rarely things we get to see on screen. Menstruation is surrounded by so much taboo, one only has to look at the amount of menstrual products described as ‘sanitary’ to understand the degree to which something so natural is shrouded in shame and clinicism. Horror as a genre is one which seems to be more drawn to depicting menstruation (alongside puberty and adolescence, which are rich themes to explore in horror). Here’s a breakdown of some of the most iconic and recognisable representations of menstruation in horror cinema.
carrie (1976) The first time I remember seeing menstruation on film was in Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976). What starts as a softcore porn-esque scene of Carrie (Sissy Spacek) soaping her body in a locker room shower turns into a disturbing scene of a frightened, confused young woman being pelted with menstrual products by cruel teenage classmates, chanting ‘plug it up’. Not only is she terrified, she is made somewhat terrifying. Hunched over, reaching towards her classmates screaming, she becomes a monstrous figure of sorts. Carrie is being raised by her fanatically religious mother Margaret, and faces bullying by her fellow students. Upon telling her mother about getting her first period (which until this point Carrie has received no education about) she is confined to a claustrophobic prayer closet a punishment for her perceived sinfulness. After she gets her first period Carrie begins to find her power. Her telekinetic abilities begin to manifest themselves. Ultimately, all of Carrie’s bullying and trauma lead to her enacting murderous revenge against her classmates, set in motion by a cruel and violent prank at the prom upon the moment Carrie finally began to feel a sense of acceptance. As Jillnewald writes, ‘Her period becomes the catalyst for Carrie going from an awkward teenage girl to a terrifying, vengeful aberration.’1
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Jill Grunenwald, ‘Blood Sport: The Most Feminist Part of “IT Chapter Two” Is a Staple in Horror’, bitch media (https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/it-chapter-two-menstruation), 17 September 2019, (Accessed: 24 November 2020)
Carrie’s final act of revenge is directed at her mother Margaret, who she crucifies with knives in a violent rejection of her mother’s fanaticism, which has been such a key factor in much of Carrie’s trauma. She rejects her mother’s belief that women are sinful and that the changes her body are going through, both natural and supernatural, as evil.
the love witch (2016) Anna Biller’s The Love Witch introduces us to Elaine, the impeccably dressed eponymous witch, who is searching for a man to love her. In her pursuit, Elaine performs rituals using love spells and sex magic, and embraces the use of her own bodily fluids in her witchcraft. There’s no shame or stigma for her. The film does highlight the taboo surrounding menstruation however, with Elaine herself commenting that most men have never seen a used tampon, and when police officers discover the grave of one of her former lovers, upon discovering her witch bottle containing a used tampon and urine, they are mystified. They cannot identify what they’re looking at.
ginger snaps (2000) ‘I just got the curse’, Ginger (Katherine Isabelle) tells her sister (Emily Perkins) with disgust, getting her first period shortly before a violent werewolf attack. The first time I saw Ginger Snaps (2000), it evoked the pop culture I loved as a teenager, The Craft (1996), Heathers (1988), Buffy (1997-2003), to name a few. John Fawcett’s Canadian horror film was both the starting point and the main inspiration for this article. I mainly wanted an excuse to watch it again. 52
Ginger Snaps centers on two teenage sisters, Ginger and Brigitte, alienated inhabitants of Canadian suburbia, surrounded by leering teenage boys, bitchy girls and well meaning but clueless adults. ‘Out by sixteen or dead in the scene, but together forever’ is their mantra to each other. For Ginger, getting her period is her body betraying her. She desperately doesn’t want to become like the other girls she detests: ‘kill yourself to be different and your own body screws you. But if I start simping around tampon dispensers and moaning about PMS, shoot me okay’. Following her werewolf attack, Ginger experience a series of physical changes to her body, including growing hair in strange places, the appearance of claws and a tail (which she later attempts to sever in order to reverse her transformation). She also experiences a growing hunger, which initially she interprets as one for sex, leading her to engage in a sexual relationship with a boy from her class, for whom previously she’d shown nothing but disdain. She ultimately passes the werewolf curse to him, which seems to take on a sexually transmitted element. It turns out however that this hunger is in fact to ‘tear everything to fucking pieces.’ One of the other key elements to note about this film is the way it depicts the adults perspective on menstruation. She goes with Brigitte to see her school nurse upon growing concerns about the changes she is experiencing, only for the nurse to dismiss her worries as normal. That what she is going through is typical. The werewolf transformation notwithstanding, this is an experience that will be familiar to many people who menstruate, when vocalising concerns around their bodies.
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When her mother Pam realises that Ginger has begun her period (something she’s excited about she worries her daughters are developing behind schedule) during a conversation at the dinner table, she is met with disgust from her husband (‘We’re eating’) and disdain from Ginger and Brigitte. As Pam states, ‘it’s nothing to be scared of, it’s the most normal thing in the world’, a perspective that frankly could do with being a lot more widespread.
stephen king’s it (1990) & it (2017) Beverly Marsh, portrayed by both Sophia Lillis in 2017 and Emily Perkins (in her second appearance in this piece) in 1990, is going through her adolescence as a young woman when Pennywise arrives on the scene. She is also going through trauma, facing physical and sexual abuse from her father, as well as (at least in the 2017 version) sexualisation by both boys and men, and bullying for her burgeoning sexuality. Much of her narrative also surrounds her being at the centre of a love triangle involving Bill and Ben. In two key scenes in both adaptations of King’s book, Beverly is targeted by Pennywise through a sink overflowing with blood, spraying the walls of her bathroom or (in the case of the 2017 version), coating every surface of the room completely. This moment draws upon Beverly’s fear of growing up and going through puberty. Beverly has no choice but to show her father, who cannot see the blood, leaving Beverly alone to deal with the mess. In the 2017 adaptation, the boys of the Losers Club come round to see Beverly, and unlike her father, they can see the bloodsoaked walls. What follows is a scene in which all of the boys painstakingly assist Beverly in cleaning every speck of blood off every surface. They are there to support her.
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One Day Her Prince Won’t Come: Paula Rego Does Fairy Tales // Izzy Woods While certainly inspired by, I won’t pretend that what follows will be a review of the recent Paula Rego exhibition at Tate Britain. Mainly because the show ended a few weeks before this issue is due to be released, and it would just be cruel of me to bang on exclusively about something that no one is able to experience, wouldn’t it? Although it is certainly a joy to be able to see artworks in the flesh, there are a fair few pieces that still manage to reveal so much to the audience, even if a computer screen stands between you and the canvas. This for me is one of the triumphs of Paula Rego’s oeuvre. Fairy tales are already such a loaded subject, but combined with the context of Rego’s life and background, her paintings become an art historian's dream. Or perhaps just for the one writing this piece. Paula Rego was born in Portugal in 1935, the daughter of an ardent anti-fascist and a keen artist. Since the 1950s, her work has publicly criticised injustices and addressed challenging themes, particularly in relation to the experience of women. Growing up in Portugal under the Salazar dictatorship, Rego regularly witnessed injustice, and has since made the victims of exploitation the subjects of her artworks. Although the Salazar regime was considered by many to have been relatively moderate, it actually exercised much of its power through violence. Subsequently, Rego became aware of the many forms of abuse, particularly towards women, as violence against women was ubiquitous during the period. A common theme throughout Rego’s work is the sexual nature of some torture, especially against women, and for me, nowhere is this more apparent than in the artist’s fairy tale inspired works. It’s most likely the juxtaposition of the recognisable childhood fairy tale characters with acts of torture and assault that achieves this end. Let me delve into one of my favourite pieces to show you what I mean... Snow White Swallows the Poison Apple (1995) is Rego’s revision of the tale of Snow White, and I think I can quite confidently say it does not depict the pristine princess we have come to expect from Disney’s reimagination of the story. We are confronted by an intrinsically violent image depicting the moment of death. Her body is contorted, tense, having just fallen from the sofa in what can only be assumed to have been a struggle. Signs of distress are all around: her fingers pressed into her throat, the dishevelled arrangement, the red ribbon almost completely pulled from her hair. Even 60
Paula Rego, Snow White Swallows the Poison Apple, 1995.
the use of pastel, intensely worked, creates a tactility that points to the agony of her death. The placement of the red fabric underneath her is reminiscent of a pool of blood, pouring from her head – of course we know that the cause of her death is the poison apple, but Rego’s placement of the figure falling head first with the addition of the red fabric hints at a much more violent demise. The dark fur throw in the background encroaches on the figure, about to cover it completely, perhaps symbolic of the moment that death finally overcomes Snow White. Offsetting Snow White’s undeniably agonising death, however, are hints of sexual ecstasy. While her contorted body may be caused by excruciating pain, it could just as easily be an intense sensual experience, with her hand clasped to her chest and her hand pulling at her skirt. A classical figural pose used throughout art history (most commonly in depictions of Venus) sees the subject of the painting cover their vulva 61
Manet, Olympia, 1863.
Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1534.
with one hand. Known as Venus pudica, the device is often used to simultaneously hide and draw attention to the area. Anyone at all interested in art history will likely have heard the following comparison a million times, and for that I apologise, but it is a valid one, and one I feel is relevant to Rego’s painting. Manet’s Olympia (1863) is frequently thought to be a reimagination of Titian’s 1534 painting, Venus of Urbino, but with a few subtle, yet telling alterations. Instead of the classic, enticing Venus pudica seen in Titian’s painting, Manet’s subject defiantly blocks the gaze of the viewer with her hand, denying access to what is underneath. I believe Rego’s Snow White mimics this. She is falling, in pain, yet she scrambles to hold her skirt down. In doing so, she retains some of her agency, even in her final moment when she is completely vulnerable. If we were to compare this image with the equivalent moment in the Disney adaptation (which Rego clearly wants us to do – the figure is dressed in the costume made familiar by the Disney film), we would see that the film omits this difficult image – all we see is Snow White’s arm outstretched on the ground, the apple fallen from her hand. So, is the moment in Rego’s painting simply filling this gap? Unlikely, in my opinion. Rego’s Snow White is not a Disney princess, she is a middle-aged woman. While the close cropping of the frame highlights the horror and destruction of Snow White’s death, it also equally points to her solitude. It seems unlikely that seven dwarves are hurrying towards her on the backs of some unusually astute woodland creatures, and perhaps even more unlikely that someday her prince will come. 62
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What we’re loving right now....
…from podcasts, fairy tale fashion, and films about loveable ogres, to documentaries and the versatility of emojis
Don’t forget to give the ‘horror and fairytales’ playlist a listen! It’s filled with songs that send a shiver down our contributors’ spines...
It’s not exactly high culture, but hey, neither are we. Shrek is a masterpiece. The recent Guardian article which claimed that Shrek was an ‘unfunny and overrated low for blockbuster animation’ missed the mark completely and was rightly met with much criticism. Shrek needs no introduction. In a world inhabited by an assortment of fairy tale creatures, who would have thought that a loveable ogre would be our hero? Midnight Mass is the new series from the mind of Mike Flanagan. Comprising seven episodes, it explores the effects of the arrival of a mysterious new priest on a small religious fishing community (situated on the tiny Crockett Island). The show is very human in its horror, exploring morality, faith, regret and loss, against the backdrop of a series of supernatural and miraculous events that begin to occur. It’s a special series, one which sits with you, and one that’s worth sitting down to watch in sequence so that you’re enveloped into its world.
If you’ve got a yearning for a broader horror podcast, look no further than Mike Muncer’s The Evolution of Horror. The podcast takes you on a journey sub-genre by sub-genre. There’s something for everyone, from hardcore horror fans, to those looking for something a little more family friendly (see episodes on The Witches of Eastwick (1987) & The Witches (1990), Shaun of the Dead (2004) & Zombieland (2009), and Ghostbusters (1984) & Beetlejuice (1988)), and everything in between. Series so far are ‘Slashers’, ‘Ghosts’, ‘Folk’, ‘Zombies’, ‘Occult’, ‘Mind & Body’, and ‘Aliens’, plus lots of bonus episodes. If you’re looking for a fantastic way to waste a bit of time, why not take a leaf out of Joe Hale’s book? Joe has recreated three classic fairy tales (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Pinocchio) using 100,000 emojis, and, we would imagine, a lot of patience. The three stories have been combined to create a poster aptly titled One Hundred Thousand Emojis. Here is just one example of Joe’s genius… ‘Bad boys never come to good in this world.’ Check out his website for more of the same: joehale.info/
In 2010, BBC Four aired a three-part documentary series titled A History of Horror, hosted by Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who, Sherlock), an ‘unashamedly selective’ trip through the history of horror cinema, informed by Gatiss’ love for the genre and personal favourites. The series is broken up into three hour-long episodes, “Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood”, “ Home Counties Horror”, and “The American Scream”, centred on the Universal era, or Hollywood horror in the 1920s to 1940s, Hammer Horror of the 1950s and 1960s, and American horror of the 1960s and 1970s respectively. Featuring re-enactments, visits to iconic sets and locations, and interviews with key figures from directors John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper and George A. Romero to Black Sunday star Barbara Steele, the series is a satisfyingly nostalgic journey for any fan of classic horror. Highlights for me included a visit to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum for an up-close look at the make-up kit of ‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ himself, Lon Chaney (fans of The League of Gentlemen might note similarities between Edward and Tubbs and Chaney’s appearance in The Phantom of the Opera), and an exploration of a trio of British films known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’, part of a subgenre of British cinema that Gatiss labels ‘folk horror’, which included an interview with Blood on Satan’s Claw director Piers Haggard. Though limited by its emphasis on North American and British productions, the series is an entertaining and personal account of three ‘golden ages’ of horror cinema. And for a look at the European horror you might be missing, you can follow this with Gatiss’ 90-minute Horror Europa (2012), featuring interviews with giants Dario Argento and Guillermo del Toro, and visits to the sets of Nosferatu and Daughters of Darkness among others.
For anyone with an interest in the history of fashion, or just history in general, we implore you to visit Karolina Żebrowska’s youtube channel. If you need an introduction, give the video where she creates a historically accurate version of Disney’s Snow White gown a watch. Clearly impeccably researched, Karolina leads the viewer through her inspiration (no mean feat when the period of Snow White is perilously ambiguous). And if that isn’t enough to tempt you, then maybe you’ll be swayed by how utterly soothing it is to watch her painstakingly create such a beautiful garment. Disney better watch out.
The Final Girls is a podcast exploring the intersections of horror film and feminism through curated series (and special episodes dedicated to new releases). The podcast has released four series so far, ‘Here Be Witches’, ‘Female Monsters’, ‘Vampires’, and ‘Teen Horror’, with personal favourite episodes including The Craft (1996), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Ginger Snaps (2000) and Teeth (2007). Podcast guests have ranged from Polyester’s Ione Gamble, critic Rhianna Dhillon, The Faculty of Horror co-host Alexandra West; and special guests from Rose Glass & Morfydd Clark, director and star of Saint Maud (2020) respectively, to directors Brandon Cronenberg and Leigh Whannell. And if podcasts aren’t your thing, The Final Girls’ website also hosts a horror film journal, Bloody Women, ‘committed to platforming viewpoints on horror cinema, TV and culture by women and non-binary writers’.
ARTIST BIOS Dana Sherwood Dana Sherwood is a New York based artist whose work explores contact between human and non-human animals in order to understand culture and behavior. Her sculptures, video works, and watercolors portray ritualized feedings Sherwood performs for animals who live among or at the borders of human populations. She experiments night after night to serve a population of animals with decadent cakes, sculpted gelatin molds, and rare meats that they will enjoy, capturing their indulgence on film and making drawings of the encounters. The animals play a complex role as subjects and collaborators, asserting their visibility and desires even as Sherwood’s work theorizes about the Anthropocene, the current geological epoch in which human activity has caused substantial, irreversible damage to the natural world. Since graduating from the University of Maine in 2004 Sherwood has exhibited throughout The Americas, Europe and Australia including solo exhibitions at Nagle-Draxler Reiseburogalerie (Cologne), Denny Dimin Gallery (New York) and Kepler Art-Conseil (Paris). Her work has also been shown at Storm King (New York), The Jack Shainman School, The Fellbach Sculpture Triennial (Germany), Pink Summer Gallery (Italy), Kunsthal Aarhus, The Palais des Beaux Arts Paris, Marian Boesky Gallery, Socrates Sculpture Park, Flux Factory, The Biennial of Western New York, Prospect 2: New Orleans, Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche (Toronto), dOCUMENTA 13, and many other venues worldwide. She will have her first solo museum exhibition at the Florence Griswold Museum in 2022 @danasherwoodstudio www.danasherwoodstudio.com
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Camilla Hanney Camilla Hanney (b. 1992) is an Irish artist living and working in London. Working through ceramics, sculpture and installation Camilla’s practice explores themes of time, sexuality, cultural identity and the corporeal, often referencing the body in both humorous and challenging ways. By subverting traditional, genteel crafts she attempts to transgress and contemplate conventional modes of femininity, deconstructing archaic identities and rebuilding new figures from detritus of the past. By materialising the familiar in an unfamiliar context her work stimulates our ability to rethink our relationship towards objects, threatening the natural order and toying with the tensions that lie between beauty and repulsion, curiosity and discomfort, desire and disgust. Camilla is a Graduate of Goldsmiths University Masters of Fine Art programme (2017-2019) and also Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (Visual Arts Practice 2010-2015). Since moving to London, her work has been exhibited by a diverse range of galleries including the South London Gallery in conjunction with Bloomberg New Contemporaries, No. 20 Arts and The Rosenfeld Gallery. Camilla was the 2019/20 recipient of the Sarabande Foundation studio bursary. She was granted the UK Young Artist of the Year runner up award at its inaugural award ceremony which was held at the Saatchi . She received the ‘Committee's Choice’ prize at ‘Exceptional’ an exhibition of recent graduate work at Collyer Bristow Gallery and was recipient of the zealous: Sculpture Stories prize. She was recently selected as one of the Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Award winners and was granted the 2020 Irish Visual Arts Bursary Award. Her work has been featured in articles by Crafts Magazine, Elephant Magazine, wallpapermag, Showstudio, Mission Mag and Harpers Bazaar. @camilla.hanney https://camillahanney.wixsite.com/artist
Sophia Ji Sophia Ji currently lives in Kaohsiung City as an illustrator. Her work revolves around fantasy and mystery, exploring themes of self-introspection. Colours, texture and visual language are primary elements in her works. She specializes in creating images informed by a sense of fantasy and delineated with a dotted and gravel texture that increases the depth of the images. @sophiasartworks Teeson Shen Teeson Shen is a Chinese illustrator and graphic designer based in London. He is interested in both traditional painting material and digital media. Mythology topics and fashionable wearings are usual in his illustrations. @teeson_shen Jocelyn McGregor Jocelyn McGregor is a sculptor originally from Cumbria. She studied her BFA in Fine Art from the Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford University; and an MFA in Sculpture from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL. She has worked and exhibited around the UK and internationally, including ‘Around the Table’ at No.20 Gallery, London; the British Council SWAP UK/Ukraine Residency Programme 2019-20; Artist-in-Residence at HKBU Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong (2018); ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’, The Art Foundation, Athens, Greece (2018). She was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018, awarded the Lee Alexander McQueen: Sarabande Foundation Emerging Artist Award (2017) and has an upcoming solo exhibition at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester in 2022.
Ciriza Ciriza is a multidisciplinary artist who works in the realms of dreams, mythology, ancestry, animism, and alchemy. Her works are explorations of states of fluidity and transmutation; the slippery, elusive, and anomalistic spaces materializing in tactile and visceral forms. The result is otherworldly, a connection to the infinite where phantasmagoria becomes tangible, familiar, and feral. Ciriza’s instruments are performance, film and video, sculpture, installation, sound, and drawing. Her performances and films are a distillation of raw energy in ritualistic catharsis: a theater of the primordial, through which she uses the body to explore the fragile threshold between being and not being. Living with the eyesight of a lifelong myopic degenerative vision scape, she creates drawings and sculptures that reflect underlying truths behind the superficial and offer other meanings for "seeing". Rooted in the medicinal, her sculptural works illuminate the possibilities of healing and metamorphoses within the opacity of shadow and murk. @unaperssona www.cirizapalace.com Jason Kerley Jason is a Glasgow based Illustrator and animator with a short attention span. His unhealthy obsessions with paper, pixels and colour manifest in a variety of ways; mushrooms growing from eye sockets, cities built from chewing gum, a praying mantis on a keyboard... that kind of thing. @jasonkerly linktr.ee/JasonKerley
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Oliver McConnie Oliver McConnie studied at Canterbury, Camberwell and the Royal Drawing School, and was an artist in residence at the Sarabande Foundation, in London. Oliver has exhibited works in the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, MOSTYN Open, Royal Academy of Arts and Somerset House. @oliver.mcconnie Tiz Creel Tiz Creel (1991) is an artist from Mexico City currently based in London. Her practice is influenced by play, spontaneity and games, as forms contingent on relations between people. Her work often comes to prominence when the individual’s imagination transforms the artwork. The audience role is not to discover but to create the meaning -whatever form it might take. People might challenge the work; that encounter is essential for the work sense of itself. Tiz work mirrors reality, but the reflected place is a world you can play with, a world that you can break. For Tiz, play is the practice of becoming, an ongoing exploration of the human experience. When we play, we engage fully with life and its contents to reach for the deepest truths of ordinary things and hopefully pursue higher respect and interest in the things around us. Tiz work mirrors reality, and the reflected place is a world you can play with, a world you can break. In 2019 she completed an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths University (London) as well as a residency at the School of Visual Arts in 2016 (New York), and she holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from Universidad Iberoamericana 2015 (Mexico City). She has exhibited in London with Now Play This! 2021, SEAGER (Touch Base, 2020); Arebyte (Homepage Art Fair, 2021); Harddisk Museum (Nevermind Today, 2020); Division of Labour (Soft Display, 2020); Pitt Studio (Heavy Duty Paper, 2020); Chalton Gallery (The Omen, 2020); Residency Gallery (The Correspondence,
2020) and Camden People’s Theatre (Robots, 2019) as well as internationally in Galerija Mocvara (Zagreb), <Ctrl + Shift> (Toronto), Parsec (Bolognia), Linea Festival & Ampudia Centre for Art and Technology (Ruvo de Puglia), Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City) and Museo Regional de Cholula (Puebla). Recent commissions include the London Mural Festival (2020), Deptford X Arts Festival (2019, Play-Co (2019), Knudepunkt (2019), Art Night & Time out (2018). she was Awarded the fund Conacyt 2019 for research projects to promote reading and writing as a social inclusion strategy with the University of Guadalajara (2019). In 2020 she received funding from Tranzfusers & UK Game Fund awarded Tiz a fund to create a videogame about philosophical concepts. In the same year, she participated in the game design contest Fastaval for her Educational Board Game competition “Size the Power” co-created with Stuff by Bez. Currently, she is undertaking a residency in Turin (Italy) as part of the Generation A=Algorithm is a project by the Goethe-Institut, supported with special funds from the Federal Foreign Office for the German EU Council Presidency in 2020. @tizcreel www.tizcreel.com Ann Massal Marked by a career started in the beauty industry - which explains her very peculiar usage of colors - Ann Massal constantly challenges the status quo and the stereotypes. Her first book, The Eye of the Cyclops by Kehrer Verlag, which won the silver medal of the German Photographic conceptual book and was exhibited in many European capitals was questioning the very meaning of the word beauty. Plato's equation: beauty = good = truth being a bygone concept. Her new project: On love, violence and the lack of it, depicts the aftermaths of trauma with an assumed choice no to stigmatize, or point fingers. A clear nod to the current Manichaeism that can be observed on social media and seems quite
restrictive when thinking of the complexity of human emotions and representations. Ann's work oscillates between attraction and repulsion, love and hate in an attempt to grasp the ambiguity of the world we live in, leaving to the viewer the choice of the interpretation. @annstudios www.annstudios.com Jonathan Westmuckett-Martin "I've been using black pens as my main medium for nearly five years now since exploring it in my college work, and I love how bold the finished pieces appear. My favourite thing about working with pen is the effects of lighting and the way they work on a face or within a scene. Since pen always produces a solid mark and can't be reduced or weakened (like pencils or acrylics), every individual line is just as important as the others in building up form, texture and depth. I like to think that there's a bit of a personal touch in that, as all the motions of the hand are visible. From afar you see a clear image and a full surface, but up close you see every single conscious decision in its creation. Films and other visual media are a keen interest of mine, which is why they are my main subject matter. When a character or a shot or an atmosphere draws me in, I then like to draw them in turn. While my style has evolved very gradually, I like to view each new drawing I start as a new challenge - whether that's in terms of a scale of detail I haven't attempted before, a lighting or material I haven't tried to render before, or just simply seeing if I can do better than my previous work."
Olivia Grace Middelboe is a history of art graduate, currently completing a masters in curating at Goldsmiths. She spends a lot of time watching, reading and listening to podcasts about 90s movies and tv and classic horror (and forcing people to listen to long winded explanations about why they NEED to watch them). She also has a tendency to buy too many books that she doesn’t actually read. All of her books are vanity books. @oliviagracemiddelboe Izzy Woods can perhaps no longer call herself a history of art graduate, but that won’t stop her from doing so. She spends her days wandering around Brighton, living in constant fear that someday soon she will lose her Northern accent. Often getting slightly angry about the state of the art world, she finds herself wondering what a small person like her can do to improve things. So far she hasn’t come up with anything, but will continue trying. @_izzywoods_
@jrawn.upon
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the old bureau is a compilation zine started by Izzy Woods and Olivia Grace Middelboe in 2019, produced in Brighton, London and Kent. Our contributors are local to the UK as well as international, from New York, Los Angeles and Taiwan. Issues are published digitally and available as limited physical editions.
want to submit your work? We would love to hear from you! For submission deadlines, future themes and more, stop by @theoldbureau on Instagram or get in touch with us via email
contact us theoldbureau@gmail.com
internet @theoldbureau (Instagram) the old bureau (Spotify) The Old Bureau (Facebook)
images are not to be reproduced without permission
credits & notes cover images: Sophia Ji (front cover) Dana Sherwood (front inside cover) Oliver McConnie (back inside cover) illustrations: Jason Kerley (page 4) Sophia Ji (page 10) Jonathan Westmuckett-Martin (pages 25-26) Tiz Kreel (pages 45 and 49)
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thank you! We want to say an enormous thank you to all of our contributors and collaborators who gave us their time and creativity and allowed us to produce this zine. We’re so proud of what we’ve managed to produce collectively.
specifically: Ann Massal, Camilla Hanney, Ciriza, Dana Sherwood, Jason Kerley, Jocelyn McGregor, Jonathan Westmuckett-Martin, Oliver McConnie, Sophia Ji, Teeson Shen, Tiz Creel
the old bureau
