Spring 2024

—From the Editors

In this Spring issue of v.1, we unravel histories, find common threads, and make mending visible—recognizing that to noticeably patch a tear sustains a necessity for change. Mending can be an archive of past failures. If an issue is resolved with no record, how do we learn from it?

We question: What does it mean to take care? To invest in the possibility of connection, of revolution, of peace, of love? How does care translate into productive anger and radical imagination? It forces us to take risks, to dive headfirst into learning, listening, and laboring. If time passes anyway, what prompts our instinct to act? Is it intuition or inspiration? Excitement or empathy?

As you read this issue, double our typical length, consider the care present in all of the work and the process of weaving it together. We focus our care on one thing at a time—the specificity of a label in a museum, the presence of algorithms in our daily lives, the assembly of a chair—while still considering the way the individual parts influence the whole. This issue acknowledges the gaps in the RISD Museum’s representation of Black artistry and documents the work being done to fill them. We also try to make sense of the thin fabric between physical versus virtual realities; how the organic morphs into the digital, and then back again. Find ruminations on queer identity, relationships of all kinds, and memories of Quickies, RISD’s pre-COVID student-led programming. Delve into the essays from the winner and runners-up of the Redefining Writing Essay Contest. Also, note an investigation of the Black Biennial and its potential to influence the future of identity-based exhibitions at RISD.

Pulling the smallest thread can unravel everything, but tying the tiniest knot can put it all back together. Years-long revolutions begin with hours-long efforts. How can we stress the importance of today and right now? As we learn by listening to each other, ourselves, and our work, we can also learn from the labor of that listening.

What do the rewards for undivided attention look like? If you’ve been waiting for a sign to mend your pile of unaddressed clothes, ambitions, or hesitations, this is it.

Ollantay Avila
Graciela Batista
Karina Garbarini
Deanne Fernandes
Katherine Fu
Michael Gunn
Samantha Hernández

Kobe Jackson
David Legrand
Angelina Rodgers
Mina Troise
Arete Xu
Tonia Zhang
Mei Zheng