Spring 2023
—From the Editors
—From the Editors
How do we define emergence? Is it a breakthrough or a disturbance? A lifting of the veil? What is added when we reemerge, then? A turning of the soil for the dormant to sputter back to life. Moments of déjà vu, reevaluation of the direction of our growth, considering what serves us. What can be left behind? What can change? What stays? Beginning anew invites us to notice how things are and how things could be—letting go of the comfort and the ease of worn paths. Maybe we’ll stumble out sneezing from the pollen, tending to scrapes from the thorns, or screaming revelations into the far-reaching wind. In any case, we’ll be healthily uncomfortable and ultimately transformed.
In this issue of v.1, we (re)emerge amidst the clamor of Spring. We wander through themes of mapping, objecthood, growing pains, and critiques of frameworks that were once thought to be chiseled in stone. Essays delve into death and rebirth on Mount Fuji, musings on chicken-coop-core, roadside Americana, a search for a “cartographic counterexample,” and the power of THAD to mutate the canon. We learn what is up with dealing found objects on Instagram, the many (many) ways to think about process-based work, the warp and weft of Indigenous storytelling, and other sparkling stones collected along the way.
Just a month ago, the two-week strike of RISD’s custodians, movers, an groundskeepers generated a Spring of its own, making a commotion that radiated over all of College Hill. The picketing has concluded, the heatwave has subsided, and the demands of the workers have bee met. In the wake of the strike, we feel a lasting impression: that the relationship between art-making and solidarity at RISD has deepened. The RISD community, which can often feel fragmented between different majors, studios, and years, came together in support of a cause which deeply affects the lives of everyone on campus. As students questioned our own ability to communicate effectively with the administration, the emotional response to the strike propelled us to stand in solidarity and witness the power of student organization. Inside our cover we record the visual evidence of the strike—a “wall” of posters recalling its key issues: equity, compensation, and care. We invite you to find more strike coverage on our website (volume-1.org).
In light of all the recent changes and contemplations, upheavals and reverberations, both human and vernal, v.1 welcomes you to experience this Spring issue with fresh honesty and conscious materiality. We hope that your journey to (re)emergence is riotous—cracking open, wild and full of possibility.
Graciela Batista
Briaanna Chiu
Alex Ferrandiz
Maxwell Fertik
Karina Garbarini
Lena Rentel
Angelina Rodgers
Malda Smadi
Glikeriya Shotanova
In this issue of v.1, we (re)emerge amidst the clamor of Spring. We wander through themes of mapping, objecthood, growing pains, and critiques of frameworks that were once thought to be chiseled in stone. Essays delve into death and rebirth on Mount Fuji, musings on chicken-coop-core, roadside Americana, a search for a “cartographic counterexample,” and the power of THAD to mutate the canon. We learn what is up with dealing found objects on Instagram, the many (many) ways to think about process-based work, the warp and weft of Indigenous storytelling, and other sparkling stones collected along the way.
Just a month ago, the two-week strike of RISD’s custodians, movers, an groundskeepers generated a Spring of its own, making a commotion that radiated over all of College Hill. The picketing has concluded, the heatwave has subsided, and the demands of the workers have bee met. In the wake of the strike, we feel a lasting impression: that the relationship between art-making and solidarity at RISD has deepened. The RISD community, which can often feel fragmented between different majors, studios, and years, came together in support of a cause which deeply affects the lives of everyone on campus. As students questioned our own ability to communicate effectively with the administration, the emotional response to the strike propelled us to stand in solidarity and witness the power of student organization. Inside our cover we record the visual evidence of the strike—a “wall” of posters recalling its key issues: equity, compensation, and care. We invite you to find more strike coverage on our website (volume-1.org).
In light of all the recent changes and contemplations, upheavals and reverberations, both human and vernal, v.1 welcomes you to experience this Spring issue with fresh honesty and conscious materiality. We hope that your journey to (re)emergence is riotous—cracking open, wild and full of possibility.
Graciela Batista
Briaanna Chiu
Alex Ferrandiz
Maxwell Fertik
Karina Garbarini
Lena Rentel
Angelina Rodgers
Malda Smadi
Glikeriya Shotanova