Janet Remmington
Art by Christina McPhee
Christina McPhee - Dynamic Sink Pulse One One One One, 2009.
Chromogenic print on Fujiflex paper. 91.4 x 91.4 cm / 36 x 36 in
Indigo Birds
Glossy, spared, the indigo birds
turn out to be violet turacos
slipped out from behind bars
blown off course
or lured by the bright pickings
of this urban forest
piped to distant waterfalls
once an upland of brittle grasses
encamped by migrants
digging out the earth and air
dusting the world with seed
*
The pair float on a telephone wire
against a strong bare sky
identified this side of the hedge
not purple-crested loeries, nor go-away birds
but visitors from Africa’s rain-breast
testing the thin thirsty air
assuming a vantage point
not seeking out shadowy canopies
these makwerekwere
but bang in the open, look!
over-exposed in the glare
Christina McPhee - Attempt to Measure Sea Ice Extent 1 – Big Sur Fires, 2009.
Chomogenic print (lightjet). Edition of 2 + AP. 91.4 x 91.4 cm / 36 x 36 in
Students under New Moons
A sequence in Malawi
Opening
North to Chipoka:
heavy bench on the deck.
Grey waves pull at sinews, speed
spread the ferry’s chest.
Loud, mismatched
Would our travel clothes
remain stitched, intact
if the bow opened
to the incandescent churn?
If it sieved the flow
of tackle, people
through its silver bones?
A middle-aged man, sprayed
points to birds, the border, distances
white axe-heads
chopping up the water.
We reach for words in the wind –
rills of Chechewa –
ferret in pockets
for ourselves
pass round names
in a burst of sun.
Christina McPhee - Attempt to Measure Sea Ice Extent 2, 2009.
Photomontage chromogenic print (lightjet). Edition of 3 + 1 AP. 86 x 88 cm / 34 x 35 in
Massif
As I cradle
the root cassava
at Zomba plateau’s base
the vegetable seller
in purple, red
jugs her hands
offers more.
The president’s face
leafed by stars
twitches
on her printed dress.
With the bus sinking
beyond sight
dust overtakes
eight hard boots
of friends.
Whip-track
to the summit
for dark
sun-weighted
day
on our back.
I gesture
hey
to cool carapaces
of the crickets here
and their ubiquitous
songs.
Christina McPhee - Cali Republic – Warning, 2006.
Chromogenic print on Fuji Crystal archive paper. Edition of 1 + AP. 86 x 182 cm / 36 x 78 in
Shore
Not far
from the tent
creaks retreat
to the baobab’s branches:
old cranial tree
that carries the moon
more easily than leaves
that lifts
beetled consonants
from its twigs
drops night vowels
from the buffalo-weaver
roosts.
*
Downslope
we share
starless sweat
sour mosquito shriek
stack the time
with talk
crowd out thoughts –
next semester
thirst
malaria –
our elbowing, wingless
nest of noise.
Bay
wake
to a shock
of white
spin
of a room
no blue –
no tent
to touch
nets overhead
knotted
by other guests
hot tin roof,
our voices,
cracking
we let you
sleep in –
a bed
for your birthday
your
long, lit back
finds the camber
inclines to air –
the rush of rays –
draws out
my stare
Christina McPhee - Marine Layers Border Patrol, 2019.
Chromogenic print on Fujiflex paper. Edition of 3 + AP. 129.4 x 121.9 cm / 48 x 47 in
Current
oars
stretch the water
as we make
our way over
the dug-out
shudders
over the threshold
of rock and branch –
we straighten, squint
quiver
on the island
of noonday green
the fire-fish lunch
singes
our throats –
no boat –
we back into the lake
to float beneath the sky
when speed becomes our air
far shallows
the tow
when arms, cries
chase the lightning below –
flints of tail, whipping tips:
glassy flashes of mbuna shoals
we spark in their passing
come brightly
asunder
Christina McPhee - Tying Wetlands, 2019.
Chromogenic print on Fujiflex paper. Edition of 3 + AP. 109.2 x 101.6 cm / 43 x 40 in
Going
Roads
are for heels.
The striking of red.
Air
is for sun, dust
hanging up fish.
Chombe is best left out
for the day.
Time
is for ingredients.
An hour for oil, flour
three-quarters for beer.
A quarrel of hands
yields
beetle-hard bread.
Heat
is for stripping
hiding in water.
Boys on the bank
hold up the sky.
Clouds
are for whispers. Wind
takes the questions. Rain
triggers volume. Thunder
shouts louder. Echoes
go deeper.
Earth
is for opening.
Singing for the world’s dead.
For blowing petals
along paths of the living.
Janet Remmington
Janet Remmington is a writer, researcher, and publisher. Born and raised in Johannesburg, she studied in Cape Town, London, Oxford, and York. Prior to the pandemic, she travelled widely. She has published creative and academic work in a range of venues. She was co-editor of Sol Plaatje’s Native Life in South Africa: Past and Present, which was awarded best edited collection by South Africa’s National Institute for Humanities and the Social Sciences (2018). She is working on a book that surfaces and explores under-recognized literary histories of black South African travel and writing (1850–Present)
Christina McPhee
Across drawing, painting and video, Christina McPhee’s topographies set in motion kinetic ecologies, pre-linguistic writing, and a sense of place. Her work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, International Center of Photography (NY), the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and Thresholds New Media Collection, Scotland. Her 2021 exhibitions include Otherwise/Revival at Bridge Projects, LA. IG: @xtinamcphee