After the emotional energy I put into Action 3, I found the directions for Action 4 hard to follow. I had already expanded so much, that I had the urge to contract not to go out… I attempted to do some experiments but was not very satisfied with the results, so I also left this one unfinished, and open-ended. I have had it playing on a loop in the back of my head this whole time. Here’s where I ended up with it. And I couldn’t have been too far off track, because Nomi was really into what I was doing, and that usually means I am on the right track.
I had decided to spend more time with Robin Wall Kimmerer’s chapter the Honorable Harvest. I ended up carving a quote out into lino, remembering that carving causes tendonitis to flare up in my forearms. I also realized that I made a rookie mistake when I did my carving, I forgot to flip it, and carve the mirror image, so that the ink would transfer onto the paper in the right way. I decided to go ahead and print it anyway because my wrists were hurting too much to consider carving it again. The act of working with the words, and the english language in this way though it did something, each letter was 3-6 digs with the carving tool, straight gestures were easy, but curved letter required a twist, a turn of the work, a twist, a turn of the work, and then back the other way – turn, twist, turn, twist – I was able to get the text complete in two evenings. I purchased the audiobook of braiding sweetgrass, so I could listen to Robin narrate while I worked.
I decided to go ahead and print them, knowing that the action taken was the important part, and I would discover what I needed to in the act of doing. Once the paper was on the inked up lino block I realized I needed something to add pressure to the back of the page, I tried a few things lying around I think it was my charging block for my iphone that worked the best, it was glossy and had generously rounded corners, but that’s where I got the idea. I realized that to get the result of readable text with no computer manipulation I could simply do a rubbing. Down below are some of the computer-flipped images. They have beautiful texture and I may come back to this at another time.
While doing the rubbings though, I discovered something else. The reveal. as seen below, the words just began to reveal themselves, it was as if the conversation was unfolding before me. I was actively listening while simultaneously rubbing the words into existence. Much like the recordings in action 3, there was something happening as I embodied the action, the alchemy wasn’t happening in the first translation, or the second, but somewhere in the third translation it became something else. It made me think about the role of designer, often we are tasked with communicating as clearly as possible, but maybe there is something to being a part of the translation, to finding the action that reveals, but how does power and participation fit into this. I know this action asked us to go out and involve more people, and I am feeling the tug of why. But I also have to recognize that I was in a moment of contraction, and that my process may not align fully with the intentions of the school. I think that is a decolonial act to recognize the deadline as neither important or urgent, just a guide post that I can challenge when needed.
I did experiment with different ways of revealing, I tried spraying water which saturated well, but the words are harder to see, I used conte, and charcoal, with ink and without ink, with used ink. In the end, my favourite method was with ink – because it helps the paper stay in place, and it bled through ever so slightly adding depth to the rubbing and to each letter – and for the rubbing, a regular office pencil, that I shaped and kept sharp with a knife. I got 8/25 printed. Pablo, I know you read all the blogs, I am planning to have one for each of our class members, when you all finally arrive.
