Dream

“Kids were nasty when they found out I got a full scholarship.” – SMW.

“I think I look like a tortured religious figure. Which tortured figured could you be? Online quizzes on which historical gay figure, lesbian trope you are.” – SMW with AC.

“When I grew up, there weren’t many images of gay relationships. Brokeback Mountain hadn’t happened yet. So I feel men turned to porn, which is similar to the beginning of a relationship.” – SMW.

“Carolee with her partner Bruce MacPherson around 1978. I’m not sure what the dog’s book is. Collection of books, cassettes, etc. She looks happy. Coded handwriting in the back so that no one could read it; it reads ‘Carolee, Carolee, necessity’ and other things I can no longer decipher.” – SMW with AC.

“The bastard husband of Ana Mendieta. Writing my name over patriarchy. You're just flesh and bone like us. Mortal like us. More or less.” – SMW. “Covered in corn oil that never truly dries. Why people thought he was such an important artist. Oh, that asshole again.” – SMW.

“Imagine someone in the 15th century thinking: ‘I'm gonna make a tapestry about unicorns.’ Circa 93/94 when I was an intern at the cloisters collection (NY). A responsibility to be gentle to other people – like men are not with sex.” –SMW.

“Upside down, when you transfer the way things are to another dimension.” – SMW.

“These people drinking champagne with the pictures of Hannah (Wilke) dying behind them. But it's not like they didn't care, they we also mourning. This has happened with other artists/authors, they died just before you found them, it feels like you missed them by a second.” – SMW.

“Wilke SOS series. I tried to emulate this with ‘Before Robin, After Hannah Wilke’. Robotic presence in this system (of archiving).” – SMW.

“You can’t escape white culture, but it’s worth pursuing the idea as a method, specially for white people. I’m privileged and white, but that is not the end of the conversation. What comes after is much harder. I am not above privilege but I need to speak of it. Crushed under the wave of history, and old people. The expectation to live up to the work that has been done, without causing damage. Is that even possible? Positionality of the artist in history.” – SMW with AC.

“There is no content. It’s just aesthetics. As if practice itself is an elite state of mind.” – SMW.

Inventorying session – 27.08.20. “I know it's not Lorca, but for me he is. I was distracted. I am not much into philosophers. Yeah, Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin. Everybody idolised them, so I stayed away from them.” – SMW.