Hold the Novelty

A letter to Evelyn May

Drew Wills — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:50:35 +0000

THE STORY

One year on from his wives death, John Harper tries to come to terms with her passing. Confined to the four walls of his home, John reveals his misery in a letter that will never reach his deceased wife. The silence and solitude becomes too much to ignore and he looks toward leaving the house in order to abolish the secrecy in his life. Ready to move on, this letter seems to be the only way in order for him to transcend their fifty-three years together.

God’s Waiting Room

Ash Moore — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:37:06 +0000

The Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington was no castle, believe me, it was more like God’s waiting room. Apparitional husks doused in liquor, wailing from bar to bar, trying to resolve their afflictions. It stunk to high heaven. I was surprised that they didn’t use sawdust to mop up the piss and beer, but it was the agreed destination to meet the skinhead scribe, Tim Wells. I arrived early and decided that having a drink was a good idea. And the rest of the occupants of the bar thought this was also a good idea, even though they were there seven hours prior to my decision. I stood at the bar chatting to the only sweet looking thing in there, everyone else was yellow with alcohol abuse, orange stained cigarette fingers to match and bitter tongues. Don’t get me wrong I was born in a pub; but I still have a little life left in me and I don’t claim for disability allowance, yet.

But as I sipped from my glass an old degenerate started shouting and screaming about some minor default with the horse he was betting on, spilling beer over an African English pimp dressed in his best terracotta suit. From there on in everything was explosive, God’s waiting room simply erupted, fists flying, beer and spirits flying – the only thing that wasn’t flying was my spirits, as Mr. Wells hadn’t arrived yet. (one certain flight path was the spit from the old man’s mouth, into the face of the bar staff, but that’s another story.) But I was talking to the editor of N16 magazine (that was Stoke Newington’s local magazine) and they featured Tim regularly. They told me that he wouldn’t do the interview for me, which I was fine about as I’d done my homework and was ready for him. So five o’clock came and he was dead on time, despite my doubts.

I bought him a pint out of courtesy and he returned the favour, this was how it went for the rest of the night. I asked him what he had been doing recently and to my surprise he explained that he was writing a poem about a perfume, which was to be completed for April. I guessed that this wasn’t his normal agenda, it was very “high prices, so not quite consumer culture.” This seemed odd to me, that he might have been promoting something as fickle and unnecessary as a perfume, he explained that he thought it was a “little bit different and quite interesting,” and it was more of an “event” rather than a superficial advert with his name on it. As we sipped down a couple more glugs of the amber nectar a random crazy lady appeared from nowhere, “It’s the sexiest man in Stoke Newington!” she garbled, “hello I was going to come and see you,” “I’ll be back in a minute, yeah, just got to see somebody else,” she replied and buzzed off in the direction of the so called beer garden, which was a patio the size of a small pantry, cluttered with throw away table and chairs. “So you’re a ladies man then,” I said, “well I’ve been doing a lot of that,” and we laughed with beer foaming from our jug like mouths. He informed me of his agenda for the next couple of months, he said he had a few magazine launches coming up that he had been writing for and also a couple of books just coming out, anthologies he had been working on, “there’s one about different forms of writing and another, poems about films and TV.”

One of the main reasons for this interview was to get a point of view from somebody who had experience performing and writing in London about how popular poetry was becoming and why it was so popular, for me, I believed this was due to the fact that class barriers were becoming blurry and people really have something to say about our political, sociological and economic situation, but then again; hadn’t that always been the case with poetry. Tim explained that he “thinks it’s more visible.” During this statement random crazy lady returned and Tim spoke to her with hints of cockney rhyming slang, for Tim was the archetype London skinhead, “So last words on the month, if I don’t hear from the geezer tomorrow I’m going to knock it on the head because I can’t be chasing people around, I’ll be dropping in. I’m gigging, I’ve got two gigs Saturday but that’s Saint Paddy’s day so I’m gonna [sic] have a beer, so yeah ill see you soon.” And with that she disappeared. He carried on explaining what he thought about the popularity of poetry today, “I think for a long time a lot of people in poetry got worked up that people didn’t deal with poetry seriously and I don’t think that did poetry any favours;” he digressed “what I think is a lot better is, young people now, they’re happy seeing a good poet in the same way they’re happy seeing a good band, they’re happy seeing a good comedian, they’re happy seeing a good stripper, whatever as long as it’s entertaining, it’s engaging, it’s saying something.”

I’m on a mission to reveal that poetry is moving away from the stiffness and rigidness of the middle class and when I asked Tim this, the interviewee became the interviewer; he retorted “are you saying there’s something wrong with being stiff and rigid?” “Well it depends if you’re dead or not” I relayed back and with wit and venom he replied, “it depends on who you’re talking about.” The dulcet tones of the pub were violently perpetrated by the harsh shouts from the drunks in the corner, interrupting my interview. I turned back to Tim and told him that I meant that poetry was moving away from the traditional and classical forms, he explained that “has always been there to a certain extent and that will always be there and it’s good that it is, give people like me something to kick in the nuts,” I couldn’t of agreed more. We chatted briefly about the civil war at The Poetry Society last year between the director Judith Palmer and the editor of The Poetry Review Fiona Simpson, “it’s just posh kids fighting” and then we quickly reverted back to spoken word. “One thing with spoken word is that it has actually built its own place in the market, wanting for better words, but we’ve built our own audiences and media, we’ve built our own reputation and none of that came from established poetry. There are people in established poetry who are very helpful and are very supportive so I’m not going to say bad things about them because they deserve recognition for that, but there were also a lot of people who weren’t helpful.” I asked him if he ever had any help on the circuit in the late 70’s, early 80’s, he said the only help was “doing poetry in between bands, we were doing a lot of reggae shows and a lot of punk shows.” However he did say that The Poetry Society would seem “very much the enemy, I have to say that these days it’s quite helpful and they’re quite interested in spoken word” and that it was down to the “sheer number of bums on seats” that they have to start taking the spoken word poets seriously. My next question came down to class, working class as a matter of fact, “I wouldn’t say that spoken word is working class, I’d very much like it to be,” he revealed to me that there are a lot of posh kids doing hip-hop and spoken word, we both agreed on that.

If you read any of Tim Wells’ poetry, you will notice that the semantics of the writing could be found in your mom’s cupboard, brown sauce and sausages, that kind of thing. He’s interested in “poetry looking at the everyday” and not too bothered about “myths and phoenixes” adding that he is very interested in “people on buses and crying girls, flowers on lamp posts,” he reminded me that those kind of things tell a story, they’re “humdrum” and there is a lot to be said about that. I’m tired of reading about topics that have no concern to me, I want the now, I want the stray dog’s that cant find their way home because of the rain washing their scent away, I want the old paddy in the bar to tell me how much he hates his wife.

There are a lot of musical references in Tim Wells’ poetry, as you can imagine. “Just reggae and soul?” I said, “Yeah I hated punk,” he replied. He explained to me that a lot of moments in his life “focus on a particular songs; who I was with when I heard it, the kind of places we go to that would play that kind of music,” which is a thing called mimesis (if you ever wondered) and he explained also that “much in the way that hip-hop uses samples, it creates a mood and a memory straight way, it’s similar how I use musical references in poems.” I’d like to note at this time that my speech was starting to slur, I hadn’t realised until I started transcribing from my dictaphone how drunk I actually was, and how stone cold sober Tim stayed all night. My next question involved kidgloves; I asked if his poetry was a form of protest. There was a direct “no” and then he broke down that he “grumbled” a lot and then got to the good stuff. To be a voice of a generation is quite the burden to carry, “certainly not my generation and as much as I hate people like Diane Abbott they are at least elected which any voice of a generation isn’t.”

I asked him about his performance, as he is still in the city gigging regularly. He explained that “good writing underlays good gigs”
and the “writing has to come first and is crucial,” most traditional poets will work to an iambic pentameter, however Tim spaces and phrases his work to his own speech and explained that gigging helped with that. He felt that while in the marrow of his mind, it “sometimes clunks a bit until you read it live in front of an audience.” He also shed light on the idea that humour is a good tool for impact and that “you can make serious points with laughter” explaining that not everything he writes “is funny or meant to be funny.” We agreed that writing humour is very difficult. He admitted that he liked to “split audiences,” claiming that “some people really love it and some people really hate it,” adding that he liked “driving those little wedges” between the audience. Another trick he likes to involve in his performance is chatting which I guess would definitely grab your audiences attention, adding that it is pretty dull to read “poem after poem” and that chatting in between is also another attention grabber. He also revealed that offending people was “an easy trick, you can just be crude,” which I guess is as lower form of wit than any, insisting that his topical choice is about “gentrification and class, thing that aren’t spoken very often” and that when “it’s coming home to roost, they’re quite twitchy,” which made me smile.

A major part of Tim Wells’ legacy is Rising, his poetry zine based on music which started in 1993 and can be attained from the Clerkenwell Tales bookshop. As well as this, Donut Press have also published three other collections: A Man Can Be a Drunk sometimes But a Drink Can’t Be a Man (2001); If You Can Read This, You’re Too Close (2003) and Boys Night Out in the Afternoon (2005). He explained that he made a hundred of the first issue and sold them at a poetry night called Hard Edge, he added that “in actual fact there was six people actually writing in it and we just used loads of names, so we made loads people up and it was kind of going to be a joke and we sold it within two weeks.” He said that there was quite a large cross section of poets in the zine, from established names such as Todd Moore to those who have never wrote a thing before. When featuring poets Tim looks for a bit of “swagger and tenderness” as well as “humanity” and rejoined “unashamed humanity in actual fact.” He concluded that his big plans for the future was to end his life like young Mr. Grace in Are You Being Served? Very old, rich, stingy and surrounded by attractive young women, well I guess you can’t have everything Tim.

Mass – Part 02

Jake Yarwood — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:34:10 +0000

See first part of study here.

The written matter below forms the second and last piece of the study on Consumer Culture in current society.

Based on my review of the work of various authors, a number of issues have been raised. These include the invasive power of mass communication, particularly advertising, and the manipulation, control and materialism that appears to be transparent in consumer culture. As a direct reaction to this, there are multiple designers who explore these issues in great depth. The works of counterculture designers address these elements as sociopolitical activists.

As a meme-based form of counter-propositions, Culture jamming is a subject that can offer transparency, in-depth meaning of its designated objective and at times be accompanied by a sense of humor.

Mediums such as detournement and subvertising, if executed well, offer and demonstrate the full potential of their purposes; bringing into consideration the reality that society does not revolve around, the message within the critical works is central to awakening consumers consciousness.

However, on another level the pieces should raise questions beyond what meets the eye and aim to address the bigger picture of how and why certain aspects of Western society are calling for change. The following will be my interpretations and findings of how designers Kalle Lasn & Peter Joseph explore the ideas covered by the various critical thinkers within the earlier part of this essay. Both these creatives know that there are solutions for the matters that they raise throughout their work and offer hope to the general public that there is an alternative to the current system.

The first designer to be discussed is the founder of Adbusters organisation, Kalle Lasn. His views on current Western society have sparked a global interest in consumerism and steered his observers to question the negative, ever-lasting effects of over-consumption. Lasn has initiated a variety of culture jamming activities that have been globally identified. He promoted the first annual ‘Buy Nothing Day’ through his organization Adbusters. This global event was founded by artist Ted Dave and it first took place during September 1992 in Canada, and since its launch it has lead onto millions (CNN interview, 2005) of people taking part in the protest against consumerism every year.

‘Buy Nothing Day’ is typically celebrated around the festive period, as this is when consumption is at its peak in a global scale. Even if the event results in a downfall of the profit for our economies, ‘Buy Nothing Day’ means that the dangers that come with mass consumption (global warming, deforestation, usage of fossil fuels, animal welfare, general waste and human inequality) are put on hold by the ones who fuel it, the consumers.

The potential for Buy Nothing Day to bring positive change is significant. If just for one day in a year there can be worldwide recognition of the effects of mass consumption and the reality of it, the problem of this one-off economic standstill becomes irrelevant. Raising awareness of a possible reconnection with nature and highlighting that materialism is not as important as many of us believe, this day has undoubtedly triggered a chain reaction in many people to think differently about their original preconceptions that should prove to be vastly beneficial as a whole.

Lasn creates a needed cause for concern amidst western civilization as he states in a speech for Typo Berlin:

“One billion, that’s 20% of the human population that consume 85% of all the goods in the global market place.” (The Future Of Design, [digital video] May 2006)

As a result of this statistic and many other problems within western society, he became one of the major figures behind the revolutionary Occupy movement that has gained global recognition since the first initiation took place on Wall Street, New York on September 17th 2011. There was no mainstream coverage in its early stages, so the people involved with the movement took it upon themselves to become their own form of mass media.

The main aim of the Occupy movement is to bring forward the importance of many relevant issues in today’s society by undergoing regular general assemblies (open to anybody) to compile a variety of problems that need to be confronted. This resulting in the public continuously striving to find solutions before its too late.

On November 5th I attended the general assembly of the Occupation at St Paul’s, London. As one of the guest speakers for the assembly, Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party stated in her speech that:

“This is what real Democracy looks like.”

This very quote can sum up why the Occupy movement has gone global. Lasn said in an interview with CBC Radio (November 1st 2011) that this movement has taken place in over 1000 cities around the world. This is for entirely understandable reasons due to the repression and submissive attitude the governments have over their people.

Another designer that portrays consumerism and Western civilisation in a different light is Peter Joseph, creator of the Zeitgeist films and a key player in the formation of The Zeitgeist Movement. Through these films Joseph demonstrates that humanity would work better if it worked in harmony with nature and all of humanity. He considers the scientific equations that bind us to this planet and how it is possible to undergo this transition of reality.

Joseph states that once humanity starts working directly with science itself and re-establishing the human connection with the Earth is when this ideology will come into play. Joseph (2010) states that:

“Creating power structures of resources, certain tools were used to keep control over humanity, to keep those that were not deserving the right of life or deserving the fruits of life, to keep the stratification going they were given various tool to subdue them.”

Two prime examples of the ruling power structures in modern society are Mass Advertisers/Media. Consequently consumption appears to be a large part of how western civilisation has been subdued in forming its own critical analysis on important issues. By the way Advertising translates its messages dilutes meaning and brings a lack of colour to many areas in contemporary society. If Joseph’s solutions and methods of counter-proposing the current western establishments were to succeed, the life of the populace within western civilisation would go forward in becoming a part of a radical, beneficial change of our environment and to the well being of humanity.

After the analysis of authors and designers work it is evident that the issues raised by such critical thinkers are of the utmost importance to overcoming the dangers that lie ahead of the predictable road of consumer culture, for it will eventually become impossible to ‘grow’ as a part of a consumerist society. The resources we have on Earth are on the brink of exhaustion as it is, so if consumer culture as a whole does not stop to shift its very notions of how inefficient it actually is as a part of Western society, the dangerous impacts will become increasingly relevant to the human race. Larger systems are at work of setting the norms for consumers, some being: mass communication, politics and economics.

We, as consumers, are conditioned to expect to have our needs satisfied. Thankfully there is a growing ‘trend’ towards less emphasis on consumers’ short term wants and more of an emphasis on the long-term benefits of citizens. One example that is paving the way to a more harmonious form of consumption is called the societal marketing, a concept which means corporate social responsibility as more and more businesses are having to be seen as behaving in an ethical manner. Without the critical thinkers of this world there would potentially be no alternate viewpoints, nor transparency brought forth to the actions of Western society in its true form.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Adbusters Media Foundation. (2011). Buy Nothing Day Poster & Occupy Wall St Poster. Available at http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/ (Accessed 28th November 2011) – Collection of authors, (2010-2011) Adbusters Magazine, Issues 90 – 95 & 98. Vancouver: Adbusters Media Foundation
- CNN interview. (2005) CNN news anchor interviews Kalle Lasn. CNN Television. March 2005.
- As It Happens. (2011) Carol Off interviews Kalle Lasn. CBC Radio. 1 November 2011.
- Debord, Guy (2005) The Society of the Spectacle, London: Rebel Press
- Featherstone, Mike (2007) Consumer Culture and Postmodernism (second edition), London: SAGE publications
- No Logo, 2003. [digital video] Canada: Sut Jhally. Quote taken from Naomi Kline.
- Sassatelli, Roberta (2007) Consumer Culture ~ History, Theory and Politics, London: SAGE publications
- Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers, 2003 [digital video] Sweden: Erik Gandini.
- The Corporation, 2003 [digital video] Canada: Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott
- The Future of Design, 2006 [digital video] Berlin: Fontshop. Quote extracted from Kalle Lasn speech.
- The Zeitgeist Movement, (n.d.) Logo, Available at: http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/ (Accessed 28th November 2011)
- Tielemen, Bill. (November 16th 2011). Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn worries about Occupy Wall Street movement but remains optimistic despie “loony left elements”; suggests winter break. http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/2011/11/adbusters-founder-kalle-lasn-worries.html (Accessed 29th November 2011) – “Who is Peter Joseph?” 2010 [digital video] USA: Charles Robinson.
- Zeitgeist, 2007 [digital video] USA: Peter Joseph. – Zeitgeist: Addendum, 2008 [digital video] USA: Peter Joseph.
- Zeitgeist : Moving Forward, 2011 [digital video] USA: Peter Joseph.

Insight: Claire Barrow Shoot

Hamish Wirgman — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:17:58 +0000

Casting back to last summer is a lot easier than I first expected, when I sat down to write this rather ridiculous account of the weirdest and greatest shoot I have ever been involved in, it was quite remarkable how much i could remember. It was no lie that recalling this time was sparse in my minds eye so I had to piece this together from others accounts.

I know you’re thinking that’s ages ago and why am I reading this now? But these little photographic gems have only reared there painted little heads in the past month, hidden by Eloise Parry the photographer. There was so much suspense created between them I nearly forgot they even happened due to the dream like night of madness.

I guess we should start from the beginning. The year was 2011 it’s summer and I’m currently living with a good friend; Billie Turnbull, a model and photographer in the deep North of London. During this time I was also living the unglamorous life of an intern. Little did we know that later that night we would be doing something neither of us could imagine. After a twitter conversation with the casting director for Claire Barrow’s human canvas project, I was asked to do the shoot. After finding out it was Claire I gave her a ring and asked if Billie could tag along.

This is where it gets strange. We arrive at Claire’s abode, a lovely little basement studio flat in Haggerston. Pink net curtains, painted Barbie dolls, rails of Claire’s infamous painted jackets and two giant mood boards. Which Engrossed the room in a huge amount of colour, patch working the place together in my head is a task. Claire announced to the group “we’re gunna [sic] get you drunk guys,” at this point it seemed to be our payment.

Slowly but surely everyone arrived. The amount of booze and weird Chinese we consumed was ridiculous, as Claire, an assistant and other models painted each other. It was during this time they were getting far too close to peoples parts, especially bearing in mind that most of us had never met before. Loud tribal styles were shouted out, messing with peoples features, mimicking the style of Claire’s illustrations. Billie was painted as some strange red creature, her mouth deformed by a black outline. Other characters included a blue goddess, Lauren with her wavy hair that matched her aqua skin and a large rouge strip down the middle of her face; the picture of a true Amazonian alien warrior. Among the strangest sights in that room, one of the last minute models (who Claire didn’t even know) showed up with a guitar and played once. He had been painted with green scales, definitely one for the retina.

I noticed it was midnight, now begins the short walk from Haggerston HQ to London fields. Not a particularly long walk, but when you’re wearing spanks tight enough to crush your meat and 2 vedge, your feet burn cold because you’re bare foot, and you’re covered head to toe in blue green and yellow paint; you tend to get some strange looks from people. We should have felt coy, but I’d had one too many drinks and a fair bit of smoke so this is where my memory goes hazy and other peoples recollection helped fill in the pieces.

The shoot itself to me involved a lot of lying down, and being held up by fellow models. Surprisingly, I managed to stay awake. Slumped till the early hours of the morning, writhing my way into pictures just trying to get comfortable. If anyone had any personal barriers at this point, I shattered them by using them as a walking stick just trying to stay on my feet. Despite being drunk as hell I managed to satisfy them, every time I fell over I remember being surrounded by people and their psychical contact. Eloise shouting open your eyes Hamish that’s amazing. At one point they posed Billie like a flamingo crossed with a tiger, which was fascinating. When we arrived home after walking in just a t-shirt which was the only protection from the elements and us; 6 o’clock came. We both crawled into Billie’s bed still painted head to toe, spanks removed and a rather unflattering memory of waking up to Billie’s painted face.

Now to present day, the day is the 16^th of February, we arrive at Netil House and for the first time Billie and I get to see our portraits at the Blow presents showcase party (slightly ironic as Claire does her own pr). Mine is a lovely close up with my arm bent over my head, a lot more dignified and elegant than I expected to look. Billie’s is dark full body her body glowing red out of the dark, reminding me of what I think a tribal Venus may look like or a devil of sexual temptation in African folk lore.

Life Stories #1: Ed Piél

Drew Wills — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:00:39 +0000

An exploration of an individual’s influences, that inspire them personally or creatively, through a revelation of storytelling.

“Hopeless”

Ville Niemi — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:00:16 +0000

The crown of the monarch has rusted,
as is the autocracy of its rays.

Owls are roosting from the high tower,
their talons deep in its structure.

Stuck in the mud of the holy,
each step takes us further under.

Mixtape #2: Dropping the Ego

Ville Niemi — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:12:58 +0000

This radio-style mixtape has been put together to push forward your work process. We are hoping this compilation will provide you all with direction and focus no matter what you are doing. The following quote from The Everything Zen Book by Jacky Sach & Jessica Faust captures the essence of how creating in any instance should be. There really are no boundaries to what one can accomplish when we mindfully approach what ever we are doing with proper effort and attention.

“When one picks up a paint brush, gardening shears, a pen, or any other artistic tool, the possibility arises of dropping the ego and fully engaging with the art. We can lose our discerning mind and become that which we create, so that it is impossible to tell where the art begins and the artist ends.”

Daedelus – Order of the Golden Dawn
Sunless – In the Dark Places
Regina – En tiennyt että osaan näin tanssia
Regina – Sinun tässä salissa
Sunsplit – She Said
Real Estate – Green Aisles
The Antlers – Kettering
The Chantels – Maybe
Yann Tiersen – La Valse D’Amelie
Chaka Khan – I Feel For You
Louis Jordan – Caldonia Boogie
Django Reinhardt – Minor Swing
Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
King Krule – The Noose of Jah City

White Denim – I’d Have It Just the Way We Were
Islands – Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby
Psychic Ills – That’s Alright
Young Magic – You With Air
Ludovico Einaudi – Nightbook
Stevie Wonder – Living For The City
Jackie Wilson – Lonely Teardrops
Peetie Wheatstraw – Gangster’s Blues
The Acorn – Oh Napoleon
Jónsi – Tornado
Kurt Vile – Baby’s Arms
Lloyd – Lay It Down (Physical Therapy Remix)
Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (EXTENDED)

Mouseover the image below for cover art. x

Interview: Emily Burtner

Jake Yarwood — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:30:33 +0000

This is the first installment of our ongoing series of conversations and interviews we will be holding with a variety of people from all aspects of life and society. We decided to use the medium of photography as a starting point for this collection. It’s commonly said that photography sings a song of life and we celebrate this statement whole heartedly. Whilst browsing the internet late last month I stumbled upon the work of Emily Burtner by chance, I instantaneously found a deep interest in her photography after only seeing a small proportion of her shots. Her body of work seems to echo this aforementioned song of life so I decided to find out her story..

Let’s begin standard procedures, tell us a bit about what makes you who you are?
The people I know – my family and friends, the internet (no joke/duh), punk/DIY, lately I’ve been a slave to my job at a cafe/sandwich shop which isn’t the most fun, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Where are you in the world right now, what do you see?
I’m in my bedroom which basically also functions as my studio, in Baltimore, Maryland. I’m staring at a tiny hand drawn calendar I taped to my wall for reference and it’s bumming me out – lots of work and little fun these days.

What was your first passion?
Probably ballet, or maybe The Monkees.

So can you tell us about your beginnings as a photographer?
I found my mom’s SLR at some point early in high school and was devastated with the results from a trip to the beach, everything was underexposed or nothing but splotches of lightleaks (which may be exciting to me now, actually). Regardless, I was enamored with the mechanics of the camera, so I took a couple black and white darkroom classes and figured out how a camera was supposed to work, snuck into the abandoned steel mill in town with some friends and got a few good shots. after that, it became expected that I’d have a camera with me through every adventure (or non-adventure).

A lot of your work brings an awe-inspiring look into what it’s like to travel and explore. Tell me about your reasoning for this fascination – where did the ‘on the road’ ethic stem from?
I’ve been lucky that my family has done some interesting traveling throughout my life and my father’s always been adamant about documenting those travels but I think recently the need for movement has been a result of a general discontent in my day-to-day life. Travel has become an escape- simultaneously looking for somewhere better to be and trying to take in as much of the world as I can in my small life. I’ve also met some really great people who live all over the place and I’m always hoping to expand that circle- no matter where I am, there are people that I miss.

Is there a specific photograph that got away? One that you wish you could have captured but didn’t manage to for what ever reason?
There will always be missed opportunities or shots that didn’t fire at the exact second I wanted, but I don’t dwell on them.

I recall you graduated from Maryland Institute for College & Art last spring, how are you finding the transition from academia into what you’re involved with now?
The transition has been strange (although I know I’m not alone in this feeling of strangeness), I feel lucky to have been able to keep myself actively working since finishing my formal education. I wish I was doing more work in the field I studied (design), but I’ve kept busy with making and I’ve been getting back into reading. I like the idea of being a life-long learner and for now I’m just trying to find a balance in self-learning, actively making work, and working (to pay the bills).

You suggested that getting out of education means you’ve got more time to do what you want to do. Do you find it beneficial to finally be free of the restrictions that academic study brings?
I wouldn’t say beneficial as much as timely. I’ve had a really great experience at MICA, but it ended at the right time for me. I like being able to work on my personal projects at my own pace. In school, most projects or assignments ran at 2-4 week turn around, but now sometimes I’ll work on a project for three months or sometimes I’ll throw it together in one night and it can all feel equally finished if I think I’ve done it right. I don’t have a set process for working, it’s all arbitrary.

In a previous conversation we had you said the DIY punk community plays a major part in your life, it’s apparent that a lot of your work revolves around this do-it-yourself ethos too. Could you tell us a bit more about how you got involved with this way of living and the journey it has taken you on as a result?
As a freshman in college, a group of friends and I decided to “start a collective” together and I don’t think any of us really knew what that meant except that we wanted to learn about how to make zines. We did a couple art shows together and released several zines and kinda died out. We’re mostly all still friends though, and we work together often, but focusing on a collective art practice between thirteen people became difficult with school. Maybe that will change now that we’re all out of school – or maybe real life will continue to get in the way. In the mean time, I’ve been refining the art of using the resources at your alma mater to print stuff for free.

DIY punk has allowed me to meet some really great and talented people and travel to places I never would have gotten to on my own. I’ve travelled hours to see a band play a fifteen minute set. These days, going to a punk show is the best opportunity I have to see certain friends or get out of town for a bit, it’s become kind of an escape from the daily grind which is kind of a bummer, but I’m hoping things will change and I can be a part of that community more fully eventually.

As the punk community seems to revolve around a free thinking ideology, I was wondering whether or not you have an opinion on the grassroots movements and community driven initiatives that are arising throughout U.S? From the groups of individuals cycling from state to state giving seminars on raising awareness of environmental issues to the globally recognised ‘Occupy’ movement?
I’m not particularly involved or knowledgeable of all of the issues challenging the U.S. and the world at present. Honestly, I primarily get my news from The Daily Show and what my friends post about on facebook :-/ (that isn’t to say I’m not concerned with these things, there’s only so much depressing news one can take in throughout a day). That said, I find it really encouraging to see people doing something about their discontentments. It’s not a new thing by any means, but I suppose it feels new to our generation because this is one of the first times many people our age are getting upset and trying to do something about it. Again, I’m not the most knowledgeable person, but I’d say these movements are steps in a better direction, in general.

Your photographs present an obvious appreciation of the natural beauty within your country. As saddening as this is, there’s no doubt that the environment is being destroyed at an alarming rate primarily due to deforestation. What do you think can be done to protect the remaining Nature Reserves in the U.S?
hah, again, I’m not exactly the most knowledgeable and I certainly couldn’t suggest any new way to reverse the destruction taking place, if there’s one thing an individual such as myself can hope to do, it’s to instill an appreciation for what remains- a desire to preserve and protect it. I hope my photographs (along with those of many, many other talented photographers shooting similar subject matter) can help inspire people to get outside and fall in love with what’s left of the nature in this world. I also feel very strongly about “take only pictures, leave only footprints” and I even go so far as to try to carry empty bags to collect the trash of other more careless visitors. (side note: doing that has also helped me get out of trouble with authorities when caught illegally swimming in a nearby reservoir!)

Okay to finish up, have you got any upcoming projects you would like everybody to hear about?
I’m working with two friends to organize and curate a fashion show at Open Space Gallery in Baltimore, as well as conducting a series of workshops questioning and experimenting with fashion in the social experience of the contemporary art world. The first workshop is taking place this Saturday at the Penthouse Gallery in Baltimore.

I’m working on a zine with my friend Andrew Eargle (andreweargle.tumblr.com), we’ve got a semi-secret blog for sharing photos with each other, but so far the process has been slow. I’m also working on a couple zines/new photo series on my own- one consisting of a pile of old polaroids from high school and college that I found recently, and another centered around photographing my bedroom.

Thanks for your time Emily.
Thanks for letting me ramble!

To see more of Emilys work go to emilyburtner.com.

Here’s a couple of screenshots from an upcoming zine Emilys working on »

Alaska

Jake Yarwood — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:29:43 +0000

Mixtape #1: Emerald Triangle

Ville Niemi — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:05:46 +0000

00:07 Ray Charles – Let’s Go Get Stoned
02:45 Apollo Brown, Hassaan Mackey – Higher
05:50 Charlie Rich – Who Will The Next Fool Be
08:00 Xavier Rudd – Yirra Curl
09:10 Emynd – Midnight Rider
12:30 Quantic – Life in the Rain
16:40 The Doors – Stoned Immaculate
17:55 Lana Del Ray – Born to Die (Hackman Remix)
23:40 Damu The Fudgemunk – Colorful Storms
25:55 Cyne – Steady
29:00 Fat Freddy’s Drop – Hope
37:40 Neil Young – Walk on
39:50 Bob Dylan – Rainy Day Woman

44:20 Keith and Ken – Jamaica Ska
46:45 Mungos Hi Fi – High Grade (feat. Gentleman’s Dub Club)
50:40 Liquid Stranger – Babylon Beast (feat. A.P.O.S.T.L.E., Killah Priest & Stero-Lion)
55:00 Spoonbill – Mangle Boogie Bangle
60:00 Natty – Bedroom Eyes
64:00 Liquid Stranger – Bombaclaad Star
69:00 Dr. Octagon – Blue Flowers
72:20 Vetiver – Strictly Rule
76:25 Jacques Greene – The Look (Koreless Remix)
81:10 Frank Sinatra – Dream
83:55 Big Mama Thornton – Let’s Go Get Stoned