Notes on Fundamental Joy; seeking the elimination of oppression through the social and political transformation of the patriarchy that otherwise threatens to bury us
Notes on Fundamental Joy; seeking the elimination of oppression through the social and political transformation of the patriarchy that otherwise threatens to bury us
Notes on Fundamental Joy is an experimental work that sits at the cross-section of an artists’ project and historical document, drawing from archival images borne out of the Ovulars, a series of darkroom/photography workshops held in various feminist and lesbian separatist communes of the early ‘80s across the Pacific Northwest. Through the lens of pervasive image-making—women holding cameras, women taking pictures of women—the project considers the radical potential of social and political optimism predicated on the absence of men. The book features an essay by Ariel Goldberg, and the photographs are accompanied by a running essay from Winant, stretched across the bottom of each page as if a low horizon line, considering the images’ collective power in picturing intimacy and pleasure.
Notes on Fundamental Joy holds up the work of JEB, Clytia Fuller, Tee Corinne, Ruth Mountaingrove, Katie Niles, Carol Osmer, Honey Lee Cottrell, and others, documenting a community of women/womyn in their collective embrace of the “back to the land” movement. It is published by Printed Matter, a New York-based non-profit organization founded in 1976 dedicated to the dissemination, understanding, and appreciation of artists’ books and related publications.