I Know, But Only Just

CLAIRE-LOUISE BENNETT AND RUBY WALLIS CONTINUE THEIR COLLABORATIVE PROJECT.

I do have some quite nice jars I like the idea of there being a few of them, different shapes and sizes, you know, like the way Victorians always had jars of weird life forms and things. There’s probably a name for that, but I don’t know what it is ʘ I watched it with fascination as it circled around the light, wavering, floating and rising, then the tiny animal changed direction and flew straight to me, all of a sudden there it was, a fragile frame, curled up on my chest ʘ Yesterday I was working on a scene in my book where a girl climbs onto a table at school to get into a box that’s on top of a cupboard in the classroom ʘ I miss being able to meet up ʘ Greeks and Romans placed great importance on the healing powers of cabbage ʘ Deviancy! I love that word ʘ I was able to study its minute velvety body in detail, it folded its wings and relaxed, we sat there together for quite a while I remember glowing with the feeling of it ʘ I also find the image of a woman holding a box really powerful ʘ She shrieked, took a tissue and pulled it from my nightdress. I was so surprised by her reaction ʘ I suppose that’s also what I mean by fluidity ʘ Boxes are so evocative, holding things, secrets, womb-like, cave-like, internal ʘ I hope you are having a good day, the beautiful sunshine was distracting yesterday ʘ The deep, rich, red purple colour of the beet symbolizes the heart, blood, and love ʘ It could be fun to play Exquisite Corpse, I know you can play with drawings, words, photography too ʘ There’s something really nice about sitting in silence with someone both working away on something - like the way women used to do embroidery together, you’re in your own worlds and side by side, there’s something really female about that, I thought and the odd little things we’d come out with now and then ʘ Please save anything stained you have, even old stains ʘ It can be nice to go just around the back of Henry Street by the canal and eat them ʘ Meret Oppenheim, Mona Hatoum & Eva Hesse ʘ When I was doing the mandala one day I thought about how nice it would feel if you were at the table doing one too ʘ Gold leaf is lovely - maybe we could put it on our ears! ʘ Hopefully I’m wrong ʘ I love the strange hybrid entities that emerge from the Exquisite Corpse procedure - I really like the series the Chapman brother’s did. Hybrid forms are kind of interesting actually ʘ trying to find octopus tentacles, first because of the ink and also because they are so completely weird ʘ I was looking at photos of Louise Brooks when she was older, she had ever such long hair ʘ I felt pretty low and apathetic yesterday but realized I’m pre-menstrual too, all edgy ʘ One is like a baboon, another like a bird - I forget the third animal - and another is human ʘ I’m drawn to the idea of keeping the ‘I’ out of it too, or at least the ‘I’ that is me ʘ If the weather is OK tomorrow evening do you want to have a beer and some fish and chips? ʘ Hannah Höch made some great collages ʘ Also gathering some ideas on stains, cuttlefish ink, wine, berries, etc... ʘ Like the Eve story, there is also the issue of ‘female curiosity’ at work in this myth - and that’s something I’ve been thinking about in various contexts recently, including in surrealist thinking and in the Tanning work specifically, as you know ʘ Wouldn’t it be great to be half animal? ʘ (I remember I daubed my ears with gold for your 40th birthday - ears look good gold) ʘ One evening after being bathed, powdered, brushed and tucked tightly into bed, I was sitting up, and in flew a tiny flickering dark winged creature ʘ I’ve been looking at the word jar, because I was thinking about how we say something ‘jars’ to describe something incongruous or unsettling, and ‘ajar’ which refers to something neither open nor closed - and again, something at variance ʘ The results are quite interesting ʘ I feel like I’m being slowly backed further and further into a corner sometimes ʘ having a big tail would be amazing ʘ I am too tired to say anything very sensible - I think the antibiotics make me a bit sleepy - do they do that? ʘ Thinking of the hidden, the energy released, and the dynamic of the opening ʘ Some energy, irreversible, from the box (This idea of havoc released also resonates with our current virus experience) ʘ A closed box is so exciting, and I love to see them - they were so magical as a child and some of that magic has endured ʘ I feel like bustling about and seeing a few faces! ʘ How much longer do you think it will go on for? ʘ Making quite a mess here, like a kid with mud pies - squashing grapes, etc ʘ It’s sort of slow and very present, and totally impossible at the moment!! ʘ The sounds of our feet ʘ ʘ ʘ

‘I Know, But Only Just’ is an ongoing project, first published in Winter Papers Vol. 6, 2020 with a second audio-visual iteration for ‘View Source’, curated by Fallow Media and commissioned by Solas Nua, Washington, 2021. winterpapers.com solasnua.org

Ruby Wallis is a visual artist and lectures at Burren College of Art. Wallis is a recent recipient of a Visual Arts Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. rubywallis.com

Claire-Louise Bennett is the author of Pond, Fish Out of Water, and Checkout 19.

Images:

Top left, bottom right & bottom left: stills from I Know, But Only Just, 2021, stop motion video, 3.5 minutes;

Middle left: Foldings, 2020, photomontage 36 x 45 cm.

Top right: Tearings, 2020, photomontage, 36 x 24cm.

All images © and courtesy the artists.