Surface: CVSN Anthology (2018)
Collaborative Anthology with CVSN, facilitated and edited by Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, Jordan Tate, and peer collaborators: hand bound, edition of 225, risograph, sewn & pad bound
This anthology is the result of a 5 month window of staying with the surface, refusing symptomatic readings, and thinking affectively, haptically, and relationally through skin, fabric, folds, images, objects, and space. The work in this volume considers the ethics and transformative potential of surfaces and surface readings. The book is divided into three sections, with short visual interstitial projects throughout. Each section focuses on a different dimension of surface. “Of Interaction” considers the relational and material qualities of surfaces and how to subvert them. “Of Formation” examines the accumulation of surfaces and their effects on our perception and ethical stances. “Of Impression” explores the haptic and affective qualities of surfaces, foregrounding the limits of symptomatic readings.
My personal contribution to this publication was an ethnographic study of the hold objects, materials, and the people around you mark the tonal shifts in bureaucratic spaces such as the DMV. Through this essay I wanted to understand the connection between how we see spaces like the DMV and how the tone of institutionalism and the surfaces of objects inside it influence our experience. I was inspired by a simply friendly, and thus out-of-sort, interaction that I witnessed at my own chosen DMV. Through spending time at this space and seeking out the intimacies that could be had, and that already exist, within it I feel empathy toward it now and hope that this mandatory experience can be reframed or empathized with.
