Noticing : Artistry of Condensation

“I work in my mind. What I do is done in my mind. And what my hands do with it in writing it down is not the same as what the hands of the weaver do with the yarn, or the potter’s hands with the clay, or the cabinetmaker’s with the wood. If what I do, what I make, is beautiful, it isn’t a physical beauty. It’s imaginary, it takes place in the mind..”

Ursula Le Guin

I think we owe a debt of gratitude to the roles which mundane, unquantifiable and impractical activities play in nourishing our creative thinking. Our productivity obsessed society tends to devalue the magic that goes on in our heads if it appears to an onlooker that we are “doing nothing". Like staring at stuff through a window spatted with condensation.

I took a lot of inspiration from these windows. The obscuring of a view with a zillion droplets of water suddenly hints at a mystery just beyond our reach. It can be tempting to wipe it all away just to confirm what we see in our mind’s eye.

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Super Ordinary Life is a true labour of love! I spend lots hours and my own money to keep the project going. I keep my space advert free and make no income from partnering with brands. Pretty much all the money earned from Zine making goes straight back into the project and pays for the website, hosting, research and zine making supplies.

If you have ever gained inspiration from my work, please consider keeping me going with a coffee or a membership. Your support makes all the difference. Arigato + Thank You!

Finding Connections : Pairing Pics

Over the years of running Super Ordinary Life - and probably for many years before, I have amassed a massive archive of images. Sometimes I feel really need to train myself to organise them in a more sensible and routine way. Yet in the moments when I actually attempt to do something about it, I end up flicking through images which then collide with memories of other images and so I wind up in a rampage through my camera roll to find the photo that my memory has made a vague connection with. This ridiculous and often exasperating exercise urged me to explore pairing images.

At first, I was fascinated at how pulling together images in this way creates a visual conversation that spans disparate moments and places. It’s a new method of storytelling, for me at least. Pairing is like doing a freestyle jigsaw puzzle with one-fits-all pieces. There is no wrong way to do this. The freedom in finding combinations can be daunting and overwhelming and I am not at a place where I am entirely satisfied with my attempts. But even then, even in my dissatisfaction, pairings have a way of revealing new layers of meaning, connection and yeah…inspiration, too!

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Super Ordinary Life is a true labour of love! I spend lots hours and my own money to keep the project going. I keep my space advert free and make no income from partnering with brands. Pretty much all the money earned from Zine making goes straight back into the project and pays for the website, hosting, research and zine making supplies.

If you have ever gained inspiration from my work, please consider keeping me going with a coffee or a membership (memberships are coming soon) . Your support makes all the difference. Arigato + Thank You!

WAYS TO SEE: SEEK THE INFRATHIN

“The passage from one to the other takes place in the infrathin”

Marcel Duchamp

I’ve been pondering about Marcel Duchamp’s term “infrathin” as a way of fine-tuning my perception of the overlooked and under-appreciated experiences in ordinary life. It’s really playing on my mind….. Mainly because the word is quite ineffable and partly because it is such a alluring concept to me.

Let’s start by using Duchamp’s own words to try and capture the essence of the term:

During an interview in 1945, Duchamp deliberated, "one can only give examples of it:"

• The warmth of a seat (which has just/been left) is infrathin

• when the tobacco smoke smells also of the/mouth which exhales it, the two odors/marry by infrathin

• Infra thin separation between the detonation noise of a gun (very close) and the apparition of the bullet hole in the target.

• forms cast in/the same mold (?) differ from each other by an infrathin separative amount.

So, the Infrathin in terms of everyday experiences can be described barely imperceptible moments. More like margins….Imperceptible margins between states of being, ideas and things as they transition into, out of and between one to the other.

I suppose such moments require a certain sensitivity to perceive? It takes practice to tune into ourselves in able to perceive them. And that is my mission (okay, one of my missions) for this year.

Here are a few visual examples that I have collected:

Infrathin. Liminal. Non retinal. Gaps.

Do you have any interpretations of the Infrathin? Visual or literal, we’d love to share your thoughts here.

Grind Culture Blues: Invisible Work

“Our culture has beheld with suspicion unproductive time, things not utilitarian, and daydreaming in general, but we live in a time when it is especially challenging to articulate the importance of experiences that don’t produce anything obvious, aren’t easily quantifiable, resist measurement, aren’t easily named, are categorically in-between”

Ann Hamilton

I’ve read and reread Ann Hamilton’s essay, “Making not knowing” a couple of times now. I have a now dogeared copy that I printed from a PDF that found online. Scribbled notes are growing all over the thing. It’s one of those wordy finds that filters into my heart and head combing out the tangled half thoughts and feelings into an articulate wisdom leaving me nodding away, moved with the reverberations.

In a culture that is just as obsessed with productivity as it is productivity shaming, unrealistic expectations for our productivity in creative work has become increasingly unrealistic. The need to ‘produce and show’ on social media has become a performance that is as toxic as it is soul corrupting.

The simple truth is that creativity is not efficient and it is quite often unquantifiable because not all work- especially creative work is visible. A lot of it is internal. It happens in thinking, walking, daydreaming and and other ways that seem unproductive. Creativity is also uncertain. The clearest of paths can shift and change and take a massive U-turn. All these marvellously convoluted miasmic aspects of creativity are what shape us and hone us in our work.

So do yourself a favour and take some time out to read Ann’s essay. It’s pretty darn pertinent: ANN HAMILTON MAKING NOT KNOWING

“One doesn’t arrive — in words or in art — by necessarily knowing where one is going. In every work of art something appears that does not previously exist, and so, by default, you work from what you know to what you don’t know. You may set out for New York but you may find yourself as I did in Ohio. You may set out to make a sculpture and find that time is your material. You may pick up a paint brush and find that your making is not on canvas or wood but in relations between people. You may set out to walk across the room but getting to what is on the other side might take ten years. You have to be open to all possibilities and to all routes — circuitous or otherwise.

But not knowing, waiting and finding — though they may happen accidentally, aren’t accidents. They involve work and research. Not knowing isn’t ignorance. (Fear springs from ignorance.) Not knowing is a permissive and rigorous willingness to trust, leaving knowing in suspension, trusting in possibility without result, regarding as possible all manner of response. The responsibility of the artist … is the practice of recognizing.”

― Ann Hamilton

WAYS TO SEE: A RESPONSE TO JOHN BURROUGHS

Here’s a level-headed thought provoking response that I received from Alexander Hoyles:

“I think regardless of your status in relation to a place (be it tourist, local, employee, visitor, photographer) our brains are wired in such a way that we mostly take in only what we pay attention to, and the finer details only of that which we directly focus on - locals may see subtle difference between things that seems the same to outsiders, but outsiders can find points of interest in things which fade into the background for locals... The colour of streetlights in a city or municipal signage might be 'just how it is' and go unnoticed to a long time resident, but be a wonder to visitors. We often as photographers (especially those of us interested in the everyday and urban spaces) speak of liminality and the spaces between  as though these are concrete features of a city/the urban environ globally, but in reality what is and isn't a liminal space has a lot to do with attention and consideration - to a person driving a daily commute, everything between home and work is simply 'The drive to work' and so all a non space, un/under examined - where as to those who walk that same route or live and work on it, it's is rich with detail. To the average museum visitor the exhibits are the focus and the building and spaces between display cases are ignored - however to a cleaner working in the building the spaces between are all that exist and the display cases contents ignored.”

Thank you Alexander for the insightful chat and inspiration to keep on reasoning with ourselves about what we capture and why we share.

Alexander had 2 accounts to follow on Instagram.

His portraits and still life work can found here https://www.instagram.com/alexander_hoyles/?hl=en

His street side observations can be found here https://www.instagram.com/reflected_repetition/?hl=en

His website: https://alexanderhoyles.com

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YOUR THOUGHTS

We really value hearing your thoughts.

Ways To See: Resist Grind Culture

"SEEING...

is an intellectual aesthetic exercise which increases one's inalienable capital, riches that can be accumulated without cost, once acquired, cannot be lost or stolen.”

George Nelson

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Highly recommended bit of reading:

Source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/10/23/10-years-of-brain-pickings/

WHAT IF WE EASE OFF THE GLORIFICATION OF BEING BUSY?

What if we used that energy to tune into ourselves and surroundings rather than reducing life’s details into a kind of background condition visual muzak?

I think now more than ever before is a good time to move against the grind culture that capitalism promotes, and pull something back for ourselves. Putting it bluntly, Capitalism thrives on exploitation, greed and oppression. It’s built on a prejudiced (race and class) system that abuses the rights and needs of people to line the pockets of a few.

Our fast-paced lifestyles normalise that damaging kind of competitive grind culture. We pushing ourselves to the limit for the sake of being busy. We’ve reached a point where we feel anxious and uncomfortable when we are less busy. We grind ourselves to the point of burn-out and then we seek escape from it all.

Grind culture is damaging. Damages our health our relationships and our connection to nature.

I’d like to think that Super Ordinary life is a gentle resistance against this. We can go slower, we can rest, we can stop to “smell the roses” and appreciate the “little things”. We do not need to feel anxious, guilty or unproductive for slowing down enough to notice more of all the stuff we’ve been busy overlooking.

We have so much to gain from stepping away from grind culture.

Resources for further reading:

10 Learnings from 10 Years of Brain Pickings - a lot of which has to do with take time out of the grind. https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/10/23/10-years-of-brain-pickings/

The Nap Ministry examines the liberating power of naps as a form of resistance and reparation: https://thenapministry.wordpress.com

https://www.instagram.com/thenapministry/?hl=en

https://thenapministry.wordpress.com

https://www.instagram.com/thenapministry/?hl=en

Ways to See: Super Ordinary Life in The Guardian

It was a huge honour for me to be featured on The Guardian. Thank you everyone who read, shared, reached out and followed because of it. Thank you!!!!

Link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2020/may/22/awakening-a-sense-of-wonder-in-ordinary-life-in-pictures

Ways to See: #UNNOTICEDCONVERSATIONS

The way that we engage with the countless overlooked objects in our immediate surroundings is always interesting to us. But when photographer Jim Eyre and Blue Shop Cottage kicked off their collaborative project entitled (UN) NOTICED CONVERSATIONS, it really struck a chord with us and unravelled sentiments that we’ve not been able to articulate about the unspoken emotional mirrors humble street objects can be.

“

HOW YOU FEELING?”

The question is direct and the answer is submitted through what we capture on our phones

THIS IS HOW I FEEL……

It was unexpectedly cathartic to convey how I am currently feeling in this way. Thank you Jim and Blue Shop Cottage for launching this photography project it’s given us yet another perspective to consider whilst we are out and about noticing things!

If you would like to take part, find Jim Eyre and Blue Shop Cottage on Instagram and submit your pics using #unnoticedconversations.

Ways to See: Learn Visual Literacy

"It is baffling to find someone with eyes no better than our own, who sees things we are unable to perceive."

George Nelson

Born in America in 1908, George Nelson is a central figure in Midcentury century design and one of the founders of American Modernism. A true polymath, Nelson was a trained architect, celebrated industrial designer, graphic designer, teacher and one time Director of Design for Herman Miller where he was responsible for recruiting Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and Alexander Girard. As a furniture designer,  he had the ability to reinterpret everyday items as works of art so it is no wonder that he was responsible for some of the most iconic furniture and home accessories in modernity. Yet in our opinion, his legacy extends his designs.

Most notable to Super Ordinary Life, when George Nelson was not designing or running his office of over 70 members, he was never without his camera. He was not on an artistic pursuit of artful compositions. He was relentlessly snapping away to record the things that caught his eye. It was from this fascination with images that his obsession with what he termed Visual Literacy was born.

VISUAL LITERACY

is a concept essential to Super Ordinary Life, but what exactly does it mean?

What is Visual Literacy? (Or how to see)

In a highly simplified summary, George Nelson's Visual Literacy boils down to the following:

• Visual Literacy is the ability to interpret the non-verbal messages that we see in the chaotic manmade environment.

• Literacy is deemed as one of the central foundations of a civil society yet most people are largely and complacently visually illiterate.

• In a plea to encourage an education in Visual Literacy, Nelson delivered lectures and wrote books and articles for several publications to encourage us to sharpen our visual skills and challenge us to reexamine the way we see and what we overlook.

• He was convinced that we can learn to read images in the same way that we read words - through experience, exposure and practice.

• On the premise that everything in the man made world has been designed, He sought to encourage scholars and designers to use visual literacy to question and evaluate the reasons and results of these things. Vital skills in our ability to think critically about our built environment.

"Seeing...

is an intellectual aesthetic exercise which increases one's inalienable capital, riches that can be accumulated without cost, once acquired, cannot be lost or stolen."

The concept of visual literacy as a means to a sharpening our observational and in fact verbal acuity is hugely influential to almost every aspect of Super Ordinary Life. Noticing, observing, seeing and then evaluating and questioning what it all means are our basic everyday tools. There times that an entire set of photos that we've taken of things that we've noticed during our daily movements or on our travels seem to refer back to what we are learning from Nelson's way of looking at the world.

"The language of vision...

uses light, shape, colour, texture, lines, patterns, similarities, contracts and movement"

Sometimes we wonder what Nelson would make of today's Instagram crazy world. Would he have an account? Bet it would be incredible. Yet, his legacy has relevant messages for us on this too.  His Visual Literacy serves as reminder in this instagram driven world that what we capture can go beyond looking for perfectly beautiful shots that conform to ideals of how we are trying to present ourselves, capturing pictures can and should be a visual adventure that encourages us and others to interpret our chaotic visual environments. Of course this is rather academic and design biased. Yet it is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more holistic aspects to Visual Literacy, that we discuss another time. 

Curiously, the single George Nelson designed item that we own is his Eye Clock. It is a cherished item and an article of great beauty, constructed in walnut and brass, designed in the 1950's it's retained it timeless appeal.  Long before we dreamed up Super Ordinary Life the clock has been quietly watching over as years pass, inspiring us to look harder and look again at the world around us.

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References: George Nelson, How to See ISBN:978-0714873831, George Nelson Foundation, Herman Miller How To See