{"id":2251,"date":"2023-03-08T12:43:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T12:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/?page_id=2251"},"modified":"2024-05-01T10:26:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T09:26:24","slug":"saoirse-amira-anis-november-2022","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/saoirse-amira-anis-november-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Saoirse Amira Anis, November 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What I am Reading Now\u2026
<\/b>Saoirse Amira Anis<\/strong>
November 2022<\/p><\/div>


I\u2019ve been noticing a lot of full-circle moments recently, like I\u2019ve been living within a four-year cycle and things are looping back to the beginning. My introduction to Audre Lorde was four years ago when I found\u00a0<\/span>Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>in the library at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop. I\u2019d spent the summer after graduating having a race-related existential crisis after a tutor made it clear that he saw me not just as an artist, but as a Black artist. I recently started working at an art school and met this tutor again. He seemed delighted for me, unaware of the continuing turmoil for which he is responsible. Audre Lorde\u2019s writing has been with me continuously through this cycle, with essays from\u00a0<\/span>Your Silence Will Not Protect You<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>A Burst of Light<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>providing insight that has supported my life and my creative practice. Among other things, she has brought my attention to the Black mother within me, \u201cwithin each of us \u2014 the poet \u2014 [who] whispers in our dreams: I feel, therefore I can be free\u201d. I\u2019ve never felt more understood than through Lorde\u2019s writing, and I\u2019m eternally grateful to SSW for facilitating my introduction to the world of Black, queer, feminist literature.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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I was recently gifted Ignota\u2019s 2023 diary by a dear friend, and I can\u2019t wait for it to carry me through the new year. I\u2019ve been dipping in and out of two of Ignota\u2019s books over the past few years \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry<\/i><\/b>, edited by Sarah Shin and Rebecca Tam\u00e1s; and\u00a0<\/span>States of the Body Produced by Love<\/i><\/b>, by Nisha Ramayya. Each has a particular way of holding me while I hold them; welcoming arms reaching out from the pages. The diary features contributions on rituals, spell craft, astrology, farming, foraging, weather and more. I flicked through and got sucked into the guide to acupressure: that\u2019s all I will allow myself to read for now; these offerings are destined for 2023, and I shouldn\u2019t disrupt that destiny. New Year brings equal amounts of dread and excitement, but having a little piece of Ignota guiding me through 2023\u00a0<\/span>just\u00a0<\/span><\/i>tips the scales in excitement<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s favour.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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I\u2019m reading a few novels at the moment. My most recent new-starter is\u00a0<\/span>The Dispossessed<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>by Ursula K. Le Guin. I dip in and out of it sporadically, but it consistently lingers in my mind. I<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve been fortunate to be involved in beautiful conversations about utopia and how to get there, and each time there<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s a reason to reference\u00a0<\/span>The Dispossessed<\/i><\/b>: anarchy, community, mutual aid, luxury, desire, and joy. I haven\u2019t finished it yet, but I\u2019m optimistically certain that it contains some vital truths about how to solve the world\u2019s problems. A quote from Le Guin that helps me to continue when hope feels lost is: \u201cWe live in capitalism \u2013 its power seems inescapable but so did the divine right of kings.\u201d She is an absolute treasure and I love her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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Having watched\u00a0<\/span>Schitt\u2019s Creek<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>roughly 10 times, I needed a new show to consume my quiet-brain hours, and started watching\u00a0<\/span>The L Word<\/i><\/b>. It is total garbage and I love it. Queerness, as represented in the show, is a far cry from queerness as I experience it, but I do wish I\u2019d watched this during my teenage years. It may have helped me to understand my sexuality sooner than I did. Much of the show is wildly superficial \u2013 it dips its toes into issues of racial inequalities, trans rights and mental health, but it doesn\u2019t keep them submerged long enough to achieve any sense of poignancy. I\u2019m not watching it for intellectual stimulation or social commentary, so I can let that slide \u2013 I watch it for the messy drama of a group of friends that I can become mildly attached to for a while, probably start dreaming about, and inevitably develop a long-lasting fondness for. A semblance of gossip without any personal investment \u2014 all reward without risk.<\/span><\/p><\/div>

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This summer, I had the pleasure of performing as my alter-ego, Freedom Princess, at an event organised by Listen Gallery and Sunshine Books. The bookshop-in-a-van was stationed outside the gallery during the event, so before I performed I had a wee nosey at their selection. One of the first books to catch my eye was\u00a0<\/span>Scots Poems to be Read Aloud<\/i><\/b>,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>edited by Stuart McHardy. It fell open on a poem called\u00a0<\/span>Freedom<\/i>. This serendipity felt like a sign that I should bring the anthology of poems into my life, and I\u2019m very grateful I did! My absolute favourite allows me to embody my more indignant attributes \u2013 Matthew Fitt\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>pure radge:<\/i><\/span><\/p><\/div>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cah\u2019m mentul<\/span><\/p><\/div>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 pure radge<\/span><\/p><\/div>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a richt ramstoorie ragabash<\/span><\/p><\/div>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dinna mess.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/div>

My relationship with my Scottish identity and the Scots language is fraught for various reasons, but it feels solidified while performing these poems. As my tongue wraps around the lilting, dancing words, my heart feels certain that this is my culture \u2014 irrefutably so.<\/span><\/p><\/div>

Seriously,\u00a0<\/span>dinna mess.<\/i><\/span><\/p><\/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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Saoirse Amira Anis<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>is a Dundee-based artist and curator. Her work has been exhibited recently in the form of a solo show,\u00a0For no other reason than joy,<\/em>\u00a0at Cample Line, Dumfries, and as part of Platform for the 2022 Edinburgh Art Festival. Other recent projects include: Jupiter Rising, 2022 & 2021;\u00a0A Lesson in Vanity<\/em>, David Dale Gallery and LUX Scotland, July 2021; and\u00a0We can still dance<\/em>, Jupiter Artland. In 2022 Anis curated\u00a0an exhibition entitled\u00a0<\/span>Miss(ing) Information<\/em>\u00a0at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.<\/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>

Spells:\u00a021st Century Occult Poetry<\/em><\/strong>, Eds. Rebecca Tamas, So Mayer, Sarah Shin (Ignota, 2018)<\/strong><\/p>

States Of The Body Produced By Love<\/em><\/strong>, Nisha Ramayya\u00a0(Ignota, 2019)<\/strong><\/p>

Ignota Diary 2023<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(Ignota, 2022)<\/strong><\/p>

Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Essays and Poems,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Audre Lorde (Silver Press, 2017)<\/strong><\/p>

A Burst Of Light And Other Essays<\/em><\/strong>, Audre Lorde (Dover Publications Inc, 2017)<\/strong><\/p>

Scots Poems to be Read Aloud: Yin or Twa Delightfu Evenin\u2019s Entertainment<\/em><\/strong>, Ed. Stuart McHardy (Luath Press Ltd, 2003)<\/strong><\/p>

The Dispossessed<\/em><\/strong>, Ursula K. Le Guin (Gateway, 1974)<\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Watching<\/strong><\/p>

The L Word<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(Created by: Ilene Chaiken, Michele Abbot, Kathy Greenberg 2004-2009)<\/strong><\/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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Please note the views published in <\/span>What I am Reading Now…<\/i>\u00a0are personal reflections of the contributors.
These may not necessarily represent the views of the University of Dundee.
<\/span>\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>

Home<\/a><\/p>

Previous Issue: Awuor Onyango, October 2022<\/a>
Next Issue: taryn mackay, December 2022<\/a><\/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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about projects What I am Reading Now\u2026Saoirse Amira AnisNovember 2022 I\u2019ve been noticing a lot of full-circle moments recently, like I\u2019ve been living within a four-year cycle and things are looping back to the beginning. My introduction to Audre Lorde was four years ago when I found\u00a0Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches\u00a0in the library at the …<\/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-2251","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2251","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=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3914,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2251\/revisions\/3914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}