Barbara Kruger for New York magazine (2022). © Barbara Kruger. The new image, made for New York magazine, is a callback to Kruger’s Untitled (Your body is a battleground) from 1989.
Yesterday I asked my good friend how their week's been. They said it was great until Friday. I said I know exactly what you mean. The word that keeps coming to mind regarding the overturn of Roe vs. Wade is ‘deflating’.
I don’t know about you but these days it takes a lot of maintenance to keep myself afloat, out of depression, and out of an existential crisis. And while some may think that’s a personal thing, I find it to be totally related to my environment. I’m supposed to move forward as the country moves backward? I’m supposed to make a living while nothing is affordable? I’m supposed to find a spouse while the dating game's up in flames? I’m supposed to ‘get mine’ and live a certain way while we’re killing everything? On top of that, I’m supposed to have kids while all this shit is happening?
Russell Craig, Where Do You Want Your Body Sent? 2022, Acrylic on textiles and leather purse fragments. 60 x 60 in.
The title is a reiteration of the first question typically asked of inmates during the intake process.
How am I supposed to live in a system that doesn’t actually want me to exist? It’s no easy thing to deal with and I’m a ‘white chick’. The burdens we’ve built leave no room to breathe. This may not be the physically hardest time to live, however, maintaining well-being amidst these mind games is quite the accomplishment. I am scared and feel guilt for younger people. It’s only getting more complex. They’re going to need endless endurance.
Beam me up, Scotty
Who’s in Badu’s
window seat
Come back...
Let me go
Badu's Seat
I cry for Badu’s window seat
but every time I fly
all I can see
is everything screaming
Help Me
As I said in my last newsletter, I’ve been writing poetry. I wrote the two above and the one below not too long ago. I’m painting pieces alongside. Next month, I plan to show you some artwork in progress in my studio (living room). For now, I’m hoping to inspire you to give love in order to receive love because if we’re going to get by day-to-day, we’re going to need a lot more of it.
Unbury Me
I think we’ve been buried
Can you hear me?
Shit, I think I killed you
Did you kill me?
I don’t feel anything
We killed love
We should resuscitate
A-S-A-P
I need your love to come alive
I need it when I’m next to you
I need it while we wait for the train
I need it when we go out to eat
I need it when we’re on the clock
I need it when we’re friends’ company
I need it when we meander the museum
I need it when we go to the gym
I need it while we shop the bodega
I need it when we walk the park
I need it when we read in the shade
I need it when we board a plane
I need it when we bike the street
I need it on our elevator up
I need it in our Lyft out
I need it when we break for a drink
I need it when we pick up meds at the pharmacy
I need it while we browse the bookshelf
I need it when we stop for coffee
I need it every place there’s you and me
I know it’s a lot to ask of you, stranger,
but will you give your love to me?
It’s the only way we’ll revive
You can have all of mine
for free
I love you,
Sadie