Lost or damaged artworks form the interstitial space in the Disappearance issue of Spolia. Stolen, damaged, destroyed (sometimes by the artists themselves), or simply censored — the many ways in which works of art disappear raise questions pertaining to their place in art history. How do these lost artworks shape art history? How aware are we of their loss?… Continue Reading
Excerpt from “Erase and Rewind” by Tina Pisco
“I brought the photo album,” he says taking a large binder and laying it across her lap. “The doctor said it might help. I also brought you some pictures the girls drew. They made you a tape too. Patty wants to visit. Laurie doesn’t really understand, but I think it’s better if we wait. Don’t you?” … Continue Reading
Reading Amnesia
In “Erase & Rewind,” Tina Pisco’s short story for the Disappearence issue of Spolia, memory is identity. The loss of memory is the loss of identity. Here, temporary amnesia is a chance to escape from a past that is slowly coming back, like a bad thriller caught on TV late at night. It is a… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
An Excerpt from Gary Amdahl’s The Truth A and the Falsehood B
When the strange noises began…early in the morning, Charles snug, cozy, dreaming deep meaningful dreams, meaningfully complex psychological dreams, not the insipid nightmares of a little boy…and the house to shake, and things to fall, with the discrete recognizable sounds of falling now and smashing to pieces later—he thought he could hear the falling of the object through the air,… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Excerpt from “The Slow Forgetting of Your Dreams” by Oscar Collazos
I remembered what my father had said when we had first arrived to the port town, when I was nearly eight. “Don’t mess with the Negroes,” he said. “Watch yourself. Know who you’re messing with.” I was going to school in those days. My father’s words kept going around in my head. The first day of school, I thought… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Reading Kristina Marie Darling
In from the Sun and Moon, Kristina Marie Darling’s contribution to the Disappearance issue of Spolia, the spectral makes its presence known both as content and as form. Darling’s writing makes reference to an invisible text — be it in the form of fragments or in the form of footnotes. Or any other form of… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
An Interview with Pamela Bannos
When I wanted someone to clear up some of the questions I had about Vivian Maier’s archive and the trouble I was having in piercing through this dreamy storyline of the nanny/secret photographer, sad spinster rescued by her male archivists that had been constructed, I asked Pamela Bannos. A photographer and a writer and a… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Excerpt from “The Vivian Mire” by Dmitry Samarov
There has never been a discovery quite like Vivian Maier and there may never be one quite like her again. Everyone who happens upon it can find a piece or an angle that appeals or that they can identify with. The kind of privacy she kept to do her work may never be possible again in our over-surveilled… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Reading “The Vivian Mire”
The story of women told by men is a story we know too well. For the Disappearance issue of Spolia, Dmitry Samarov looks at the entanglement around Vivian Maier’s legacy: the problems that arise from her work being owned by different men and from her story having such a visible narrator in the person of… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Excerpt from Breanne Fahs’s “Valerie Solanas”
Eventually, Bud got close enough to discover that she had scabs all over her body, including on her face, arms, and legs. “I said, ‘What kind of disease does this woman have?’ But as time went on, I saw what had caused the scabs,” Bud said. “Valerie carried a kitchen fork with her, and we saw her sitting on… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
