Newsletter #21 / February 1st
MIRI BADGER x FORA / squared
This week’s newsletter is curated by our current FORA / squared artist, Miri Badger. Miri’s FORA hang FACES will be opened with evening drinks on February 4th, with event info here, and a tasty entree of what is to come below, in the form of her Another Word for Pinching.
Beyond that, find Miri’s current picks for poetry, songs [a whole Spotify playlist!], designers + other artists depicting FACES.
Another Word for Pinching
To a Reason — Arthur Rimbaud
Translated from the French by JOHN ASHBERY
A tap of your finger on the drum releases all sounds and initiates the new harmony.
A step of yours is the conscription of the new men and their marching orders.
You look away: the new love!
You look back,—the new love!
“Change our fates, shoot down the plagues, beginning with time,” the children sing to you. “Build wherever you can the substance of our fortunes and our wishes,” they beg you.
Arriving from always, you’ll go away everywhere.
Further reading — John Ashbery’s Translator’s Notes: “To a Reason” by Arthur Rimbaud
seventh heaven — Patti Smith
Oh Raphael. Guardian angel. In love and crime
all things move in sevens. seven compartments
in the heart. the seven elaborate temptations.
seven devils cast from Mary Magdalene whore
of Christ. the seven marvelous voyages of Sinbad.
sin/bad. And the number seven branded forever
on the forehead of Cain. The first inspired man.
The father of desire and murder. But his was not
the first ecstasy. Consider his mother.
Eve's was the crime of curiosity. As the saying
goes: it killed the pussy. One bad apple spoiled
the whole shot. But be sure it was no apple.
An apple looks like an ass. It's fags' fruit.
It must have been a tomato.
Or better yet. A mango.
She bit. Must we blame her. abuse her.
poor sweet bitch. perhaps there's more to the story.
think of Satan as some stud.
maybe her knees were open.
satan snakes between them.
they open wider
snakes up her thighs
rubs against her for a while
more than the tree of knowledge was about
to be eaten...she shudders her first shudder
pleasure pleasure garden
was she sorry
are we ever girls
was she a good lay
god only knows
“Nothing is ever solved, Solving is an illusion. There are moments of spontaneous brightness, when the mind appears emancipated, but this is more epiphany.”
― Patti Smith, Year of the Monkey
Anthony Cudahy / Duo swim (2019), oil and acrylic on canvas.
Maria Lassnig / Sciencia (1998)
keep reading this piece here
The Nong Rak Vintage Curation
Niamh Galea / @ramptramptrampstamp
Miri’s FACES playlist
Nick Santoro @ Egg and Dart (NSW)
See you at 75 Vulture St @ 6pm this Thursday [February 4th] to view Miri’s new pieces
& then please join us for drinks at The End afterward.
xxxx
What FORA wants
The FORA newsletter seeks to bring forward the intertextuality that we reside in, and the inextricable ways in which art and life are linked. That is an obvious point, but one that must be constantly remarked upon, as it is one we are constantly surprised by. To be reminded of these circles is to be drawn back into the fold, equipped with the tools of thinking critically and acting compassionately.
pps/FORA is developed on the land of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples