I was doing a digital clear-out of my documents recently, and I found one titled 'Things I'd like to do to my Body'. I only vaguely remembered writing it, and took a quick look. I can't find it again now, it seems to have disappeared. The only entry that I can remember said:
‘I heard there's a bone that goes through your brain. I'd like to snap that.'
For Notes to Other Selves, Leah Clements, Susanna Davies-Crook, Alice Hattrick and Sophie Hoyle have created a multi-authored text on Google Docs built from an accumulation of notes to self and footnotes on notes. Growing over several months in the time of COVID-19 and from conversations that took place on Zoom in late Summer, Autumn and Winter 2020, the document acts as a shared record and prismatic refraction of embodiment, sickness, diagnosis, crip-time, grief and queerness. Taking up the theme of care, the group have created a support structure, of which the text is a byproduct.
Though having been cultivated over many months, the sound recording is of the first time the text was read out loud. In the Google Doc, there is a slippage of authorship as the multiple voices unify to become one, then as the text is spoken, each writer explores their own words.
Expanding from the text, the group discuss in their final Zoom call of this project what it means to put bodily experiences into words. This performance and discussion is a physical enactment that ‘gives voice’ to the Google Doc and resonance to the language therein. Through saying and performing the words aloud, the group expects new responses to form, adding further addendums or verbal footnotes to what they have already written.
Automatic subtitles will be available by clicking the YouTube auto-caption icon in the lower right hand screen.
There is a PDF of the transcription available to download here.
Apologies that we have been unable to include a BSL interpretation for this event.
This event has been organised by Joanna Harrison with Susanna Davies-Crook for the #almanaccare programme.
