{"id":2234,"date":"2023-03-08T12:29:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T12:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/?page_id=2234"},"modified":"2024-05-01T10:27:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T09:27:27","slug":"harun-morrison-september-2022","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/harun-morrison-september-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Harun Morrison, September 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What I am Reading Now\u2026
Harun Morrison<\/strong>
September 2022<\/p>


\u201cThere were sunflowers big as flowers on Mars and thick cockscombs bleeding the deep red fringe of theatre curtains. There were dizzy bees and bow-tied fruit flies turning somersaults and humming in the air. Sweet sweet peach trees. Thorn roses and thistle and pears. Weeds like so many squinty-eyed stars and brush that made your ankles itch and itch until you washed with soap and water. There were big green apples hard as knees. And everywhere the sleepy smell of rotting wood, damp earth and dusty hollyhocks thick and perfumy like the blue-blond hair of the dead.\u201d<\/p>

The House on Mango Street<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(1984), Sandra Cisneros<\/strong>. Excerpt contributed by Risa Horn<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>

\ud83c\udf31<\/p>

In 2020 I was commissioned to design and develop a garden for Bootle Library in Merseyside, owned by Sefton Council. How to conceptually connect this communal green space to a library? My bridge was fictional gardens in literature. I wrote to librarians across the borough asking them to share their stand-out gardens in novels, poetry and so on. I circulated this request among friends to gradually build a database. To date authors of the excerpts include Mena Kasmiri Abdullah<\/strong>, Isabel Allende<\/strong>,\u00a0Italo Calvino<\/strong> and Raafat Majzoub<\/strong>. Rather than an entire book, I\u2019ve been reading multiple passages selected by others, wandering through this taxonomy of spaces. The titles of texts and page references will label a series of purposely designed planters for the library\u2019s garden. The intention being to grow the plants referenced in a given excerpt in a specific planter.<\/p>

\ud83c\udf31<\/p>

\u201cThe SBD [1] was located in Larsa; a garden of poppies and hundreds of almond trees. While walking there, one could hear the soft sounds of nature and see hundreds of black butterflies with orange dots dancing around the SBD, serving as the device\u2019s guardians. The town of Beit Shams believed this place came from an ancient dream. In the garden of the seven human-sized pyramids, each was carved by a unique individual.\u201d [1] SBD, The Sun Beam Decoder<\/strong><\/em>. Excerpt from the short story\u00a0Beit Shams<\/em><\/strong>, by Qusai Al-Saify<\/strong>.<\/p>

\ud83c\udf31<\/p>

This fictional garden (now in my database) is a bridge to another read,Reworlding: Ramallah \u2013 Short Science Fiction Stories from Palestine<\/em>\u00a0(2019)<\/strong>. Edited by Callum Copley<\/strong>. Contributors: Lama Altakruri, Shayma Nader, Adele Jarrar, Quasi Al-Saify, Shada Mustafa, Hiba Isleem, Jameela Ewais and Fakhry Al-Serdawi<\/strong>. It is published by Disarming Design from Palestine,\u00a0 \u2018an independent non-profit platform performing as a design label\u2019. The stories were the outcome of workshops in Birzeit, Palestine, between January and March 2019, led by the publication\u2019s editor and designer Callum Copley. In his introduction Copley references both Afro and Indigenous Futurisms and \u2018reworlding\u2019, a term he gives to the \u201cconcerted effort of reimagining the places and space we inhabit through worldbuilding techniques\u201d. Copley describes the neologism further: \u201cWhilst always being adjacent to worldbuilding, reworlding is the political application of worldbuilding. . . generating a multiplicity of futures with which to affect the present positively.\u201d My time at the V&A Dundee has similarly involved working with other writers to generate a multiplicity of histories, taking individual objects in the museum as a starting point for micro-narratives, expanding the perception of an object to imagine its affective history,\u00a0the individualised circumstances its production, what it may have witnessed.\u00a0<\/p>

\ud83c\udf31<\/p>

Another story from\u00a0Reworlding: Ramallah<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0Empty Boxes<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Shayma Nader<\/strong>, depicts the interactions between Faitha, a fortune teller and a smuggler of an invisible cloak.\u00a0Smuggling is already a clandestine act, but to trade in invisibility is an understandably invaluable venture in an occupied and hyper-policed landscape. The network of smuggler\/dealer, fortune-teller and client is exemplary of the urbanist AbdouMaliq Simone<\/strong>\u2019s notion of \u201cpeople as infrastructure<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>which emphasises economic collaboration among residents seemingly marginalised from and immiserated by urban life\u201d, a quote from my third read,\u00a0People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg <\/em><\/strong><\/a>(2004).<\/strong>\u00a0Simone\u2019s essay takes Johannesburg as its case study, observing strategies employed by migrant workers often from other parts of Africa; in particular but not limited to those working outside the law through choice, bureaucracy or lack of legal protection. Simone\u2019s text emphasises recognising infrastructure as inclusive of an improvisatory, agile constellation of human relationships, not solely tangible architecture and material networks. A recommendation from Dr Ros Gray while we worked on an art-research garden in New Cross, alongside Dr Jacq Hannam, a soil scientist and participants from the Lewisham Migrant and Refugee Network.\u00a0<\/p>

\ud83c\udf31<\/p>

My final text takes this notion of infrastructure to the realm of more-than-human. In\u00a0Mapping Alternative Futures through Fungi: The Usefulness of Mycorrhizal Networks as a Metaphor for Mutual Aid<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(2021),\u00a0Maymana Nusaybah Arefin<\/strong> (an artist and community grower),\u00a0asks how fungal networks can be a model for mutual aid. Mycorrhizas are fungal associations between plant roots and beneficial fungi. The fungi effectively extend the root area of plants and in some studies operate as a para-communication system between trees, so that more vulnerable plants can be relayed resources. Arefin, quotes ecologists Van der Heijden and Horton who describes this process as analogous to an \u2018underground socialism\u2019. \u00a0The urgency pulsing through Arefin\u2019s text emerges from it being written in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. A period when governmental institutions were failing to distribute aid as rapidly as needed, while the less hierarchical mutual aid groups were arguably swifter and more effective.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Harun Morrison<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is an artist and writer based on the inland waterways. He is currently Designer and Researcher in Residence at V&A Dundee. His forthcoming novel,\u00a0The Escape Artist<\/em>\u00a0will be published by Book Works in 2023. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. Recent commissions include\u00a0I\u2019ll Bring You Flowers<\/em>(2019);\u00a0Survival Kit 10<\/em>, Riga;\u00a0Laughing Matter<\/em>\u00a0(2018) at Studio Voltaire; the performance 40 Temps, 8 Days (2017) at Tate Modern; and Beacon Garden (2018 \u2013 2020), a commission to co-design\u00a0 and build a community garden in Dagenham, East London. This summer, Harun continues to develop and repair a garden for Mind Sheffield, a mental health support service, as part of the Art Catalyst research programme\u00a0Emergent Ecologies<\/em>\u00a0and cultivate a dementia garden for a UCL\u2019s new neurological research centre in Kings Cross. Harun is currently exhibiting\u00a0Dolphin Head Mountain<\/em>\u00a0at the Horniman Museum in South London, co-commissioned by Delfina Foundation. From 2019 \u2013 2022, Harun was a trustee of the Black Cultural Archive.<\/p>

Harunmorrison.net<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Instagram @Harunishere<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reading<\/strong><\/p><\/div>

The House on Mango Street<\/b><\/em>, Sandra Cisneros (Arte P\u00fablico Press, 1984)<\/b><\/p><\/div>

Reworlding: Ramallah \u2013 Short Science Fiction Stories from Palestine<\/b><\/em>. Edited by Callum Copley (Onomatopee, 2019)<\/b><\/b><\/p><\/div>

Cited stories:
\u2013\u00a0<\/span>Beit Shams<\/em>, Qusai Al-Saify in\u00a0<\/span>Reworlding: Ramallah<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>
\u2013\u00a0<\/span>Empty Boxes<\/em>, Shayma Nader in\u00a0<\/span>Reworlding: Ramallah<\/em><\/b><\/b><\/p><\/div>

People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg<\/b><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>AbdouMaliq Simone (Public Culture (2004) 16 (3): 407\u2013429, Duke University Press, 2004)<\/b><\/b><\/p><\/div>

Mapping Alternative Futures through Fungi: The Usefulness of Mycorrhizal Networks as a Metaphor for Mutual Aid<\/b><\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Maymana Arefin<\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>(Thesis for: Science, Technology and Society MSc, University College London, 2021)<\/b><\/b><\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Please note the views published in <\/span>What I am Reading Now…<\/i> are personal reflections of the contributors.
These may not necessarily represent the views of the University of Dundee.
<\/span>\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

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about projects What I am Reading Now\u2026Harun MorrisonSeptember 2022 \u201cThere were sunflowers big as flowers on Mars and thick cockscombs bleeding the deep red fringe of theatre curtains. There were dizzy bees and bow-tied fruit flies turning somersaults and humming in the air. Sweet sweet peach trees. Thorn roses and thistle and pears. Weeds like …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":525,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2234","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/525"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3920,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2234\/revisions\/3920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}