March issue #26 Objecthood
22 March 2022 – LAUNCH OF THE ISSUE #26
Garland continues its second journey along pathways that connect the hierarchies defining our world. In this issue, they share stories that rediscover the value of the object in an increasingly abstract world.
The recent emergence of the Metaverse and NFTs have brought into question the value of the real-life object (RLO). Indeed, objects can be a problem. They are fragile, take up space, instil greed and are limited to one place at a time.
But are these qualities all drawbacks? The stories in Grland’s new issue help us consider the enduring value of objects. Maybe their limitations are actually their virtues. Fragility evokes care. Singularity grants aura.
This detour into the virtual may indeed be a useful journey to refresh our appreciation of the physical things that connect us. Along the way, we may also discover new ways of “owning” objects. Objects could have patrons or collective owners.
The thinker-maker for this issue Abdullah M.I. Syed shares his experience of minting an NFT as an artwork. He attempts to represent the lota as a quintessential everyday object in Pakistan. Garland will follow the fate of his NFT during this issue.
Enjoy poignant stories of objects as containers of memory and beautiful writing by potters. This issue is dedicated to a pioneering Pakistani potter, Mohammed Nawaz.
The pathfinders for this issue were Abdullah M.I. Syed, Bic Tieu, Bin Dixon-Ward, Grace Pundyk, Jin Ah Joh, Kirstie Murdoch, Michaela Pegum, Rye, Sally Gray, Sun Woong Bahng and Yu-Fang Chi.
This issue is supported by a project grant from the Australia Council of the Arts.
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Contents:
Into the ether and back
- On joining the NFT art mania: Creative liberation or lotacracy by Abdullah M.I. Syed
- NFT – hype, new reality or just a giant con? by Rye Senjen
- Chroma: A mechanical translation of Nahuatl textiles by Ismael Rodriquez
- Yarn ni Yatra: Crafts as a board game by Mridushi Singhal
- Inner Traces: A dance of three rings by Michaela Pegum
- When the land becomes a jewel by Yu-Fang Chi
Writing in clay
- Late Muhammad Nawaz: The unsurpassable master potter from Harappa, Pakistan by Noorjehan Bilgrami and J. Mark Kenoyer
- Dancing with stars: From light to dark from dark to light by Sebastian Blackie and Tom Hall
- Imagining a nostalgic future: the cosmic ceramics of Douglas Black by Liliana Morais
- My pots from Pakistan and the memories they keep alive by Owen Rye
- The use of function by Rob Barnard
- Crafting a canon: Change through scholarship by D Wood
Memory stores
- The box: A magic object of objects by Bic Tieu
- Glimpses through glass of worlds recently lost by Holly Grace
- Abdullah’s lullaby of lost looms by Songül ARAL
- Heirlooms for distant generations by Clare Hooper
- Wrapping the present within the past by Janine Combes
- Oceans in a teacup by Alma Studholme
Making at large
- Silk thangka: An unbroken thread by Gary Wornell
- Wildfire: Glimpses of art from open train doors by Joshua Nash and Tobias Nash
- Rediscovering the salt of the earth in COVID times by Pamela See
- Katsugi: Female divers of Japan come up for art by Zoe Devenport