Isobel's Research

Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett. A book of 20 short stories about an unnamed woman living in a small costal village, alone in a stone house. They’re about solitude, nature, pleasure and domestic life --> FERALISM. This is my favourite book!

Can’t and Won’t by Lydia Davis. A book of short stories on her relationship to herself and the rest of the world. Again, it’s about joy and nature and the noticing of small things. Incredibly touching and sweetly innocent, but without being coy

My year of rest and relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. A book about a girl who self medicates on prescription drugs and tries to sleep for a whole year, only finding purpose in her sleep. Incredible and touching and somehow relatable. I love this book!

Homesick for another world by Ottessa Moshfegh. Fucking fantastic short stories. The blurb on the back correctly claims “...big mind, big heart, blazing chops, and a political acuity that is needle-sharp. The needle hits the vein before we even feel the prick”

This is how you lose her by Junot Díaz. A collection of short stories on love, love, being “foreign in the west”. Made me cry more than I care to admit

For my PPD I’d initially planned to make a publication with Rita, that we would screen print onto newsprint in an edition of 40-50, and then leave on the tune for other people to pick up and read. It was going to be a fake newspaer called “The Good News” and it would be filled only with positive and hopefully articles and themes. We were also going to give it a hashtag and make an instagram account so that if the public want to send us their own good news or just fancy messaging us, they can.

I was also going to be doing 3 days of work experience in the printroom of WCA, under Charlotte’s and Jasmine’s guidance. This would have been concluded by me giving my own short workshop to any students or staff who choose to attend.

Unfortunately, neither of these plans were ultimately possible becuase of the corona virus, so instead I decided to make a website. I thought it would be good to have one before the beginning of third year and it was easy to do it from home.

I made mine on wix, which was easier than I thought but also more time consuming. My biggest formal problem was that I didn’t really have any good pictures of my work, and obviously couldn’t go back to uni to take better ones. Because of this, the site looked a little shabbier than I had hoped for, though I can just swap the bad photos out for better ones as soon as I have them.

What I really took from PPD is that it really got me thinking about my online presence, and how I want to shape it. My work and practice being what it is, I think it would be strange for my website to be too sleek and functional. Instead, I intend to keep working on it, perhaps even start over, with the intention of making the site a little…. off. Links that go nowhere or lead you in a circle, an image that keeps clipping in and out, music that restarts every time you click…. You understand. My website needs to reflect the “oddness” of my work, needs to be barely usable, and needs to reflect my idea of what artistic content is.