How Not to be Eroded
How Not to be Eroded
READING ︎︎︎ SO MUCH LONGING IN SO LITTLE SPACE (KNAUSGAARD) / BOY PARTS (CLARK)
Jess Bernhart is a writer, curator and arts administrator. Currently managing rotating exhibits and special projects for ATL Airport Art, Bernhart also runs an artist publishing project, Volatile Parts, and an artist residency in Montezuma, GA, Volatile House.
Bernhart co-curates fLoromancy, a (currently hibernating) arts publication. She has published essays, poetry, and arts criticism in Burnaway, ArtsATL, Eyedrum Periodically, Loose Change, ++, and has exhibited visual art in a handful of group shows. She holds a bachelor’s in philosophy from Haverford College and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. She has three children, a husband, and a large dog, and lives in Montezuma, GA.
Bernhart co-curates fLoromancy, a (currently hibernating) arts publication. She has published essays, poetry, and arts criticism in Burnaway, ArtsATL, Eyedrum Periodically, Loose Change, ++, and has exhibited visual art in a handful of group shows. She holds a bachelor’s in philosophy from Haverford College and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. She has three children, a husband, and a large dog, and lives in Montezuma, GA.
MANIFESTO. When I was in 9th grade, we read a particularly horrific story in English class. In it, a man and his dog get lost in a snow storm. To protect his skin from freezing, the man smears snot over his face, allowing each layer of mucus to freeze before applying another, creating a grotesque snot-mask to protect himself. The image is inescapable. Then the man kills his dog and wears him as a hat. Then the man dies.
From all this brutality, the image of the snot-mask has stayed with me for decades, and when I thought of this project, the first image to come to mind was: snot-mask. Which is to say: it does not matter what I put here, it can be grotesque, my own disgusting efflusion applied layer after layer for the sole purpose of protecting myself.
From all this brutality, the image of the snot-mask has stayed with me for decades, and when I thought of this project, the first image to come to mind was: snot-mask. Which is to say: it does not matter what I put here, it can be grotesque, my own disgusting efflusion applied layer after layer for the sole purpose of protecting myself.
And so to summarize (1) this can hold anything and (2) it serves me, not you. The value of the snot mask is obviously selfish. I hope that there is some value to you as reader, but it’s not really relevant.
Why, if this is a selfish exercise, make it public atl all? Why go to such pains to turn outward? The snot mask requires the snow storm to be of use.
Forgive glitchiness and links that go nowhere, I’m still getting things set up in here.
Why, if this is a selfish exercise, make it public atl all? Why go to such pains to turn outward? The snot mask requires the snow storm to be of use.
Forgive glitchiness and links that go nowhere, I’m still getting things set up in here.