Reflections on the past year and thoughts on the future…
This year didn’t turn out the way I anticipated, but I continued with my work and tried to make the best of it. In this post I will highlight some of work I did this year. As social media gets more stifling, I will use this platform more to distribute my work, and in future posts I will also include some of the artwork that I find (i.e. kind of stuff I share on the sexdeathrebirth Twitter) on weekly basis.
Let’s get into 2020…
PUBLICATIONS
The Flowers of Evil
The Flowers of Evil by Joan Pope / Temple ov Saturn
Early in the year, my art book The Flowers of Evil was published by Input Error. This was a collection of collages I made the previous year that illustrated Charles Baudelaire’s infamous poetry collection Les Fleurs du Mal. An accompanying Temple ov Saturn album was also released on tape.
Burning House Press: Sex and Death in The Age of Aquarius
I was a guest editor for the March issue of Burning House Press. The theme was Sex and Death in the Age of Aquarius. I got so many great submissions, check them out here. If the submission didn’t come with art or was art itself, I created the art to accompany the piece. This is a virtual exhibit of the art I made for the issue:
Half Mystic Journal Issue VIII: Sforzando
I had the honor of illustrating the Sforzando issue of the literary magazine Half Mystic Journal. Copies are still available on their website.
ZINES
Death is Coming
This year I re-published my poetry collection Death is Coming as a zine and included new art work. There are a few copies left on Bandcamp.
The Saturn Chronicle
The Saturn Chronicle is an art zine that is enhanced by augmented reality. At a first glance, it looks like a normal art zine, but by using an AR image scanner, each page is a trigger for more artwork, videos, music, and poetry.
Both zines were reviewed at FLUX web zine. Please check out the review!
(There is also a 360 VR video that goes along with the zine. The best way to view it is by searching for it on YouTube with your VR headset. It just doesn’t have the same effect on a desktop. Search for The Saturn Chronicle VR Meditation on YouTube, or for my channel, Temple of Saturn) (I hate YouTube, but its better for the VR stuff… I use Vimeo for all of my video work)
MUSIC
Temple ov Saturn Releases in 2020:
The Sacred and The Profane was included on Bandcamp’s The Best Electronic Music on Bandcamp: August 2020
ART
I created approximately 180 collages this year. These are a few of my favorites:
Killing Time by Joan Pope
Rebirth by Joan Pope
The Tower, or The Need for Roots by Joan Pope
Bound by Time by Joan Pope
Spark of Life by Joan Pope
Carrier of Life and Death by Joan Pope
VIDEO
Some of my favorite videos that I made for my own projects:
CLOSING THOUGHTS + LOOKING AHEAD:
This is getting really long and while I could keep adding content, I’ll wrap it up. I always have this feeling that I don’t do enough, but then I sit back and try to make these sorts of posts and I realize that the amount of work is overwhelming. I can’t even keep track of it and I created it.
That’s why I’ve been creating an Airtable to catalog ALL of my work. If you are not familiar with Airtable, its a tool to create a searchable database. I still have a long way to go before its complete, but if you have a look, you’ll get the idea. Once I’m done with all the Temple ov Saturn stuff, I will add all the SexDeathRebirth stuff, all of the recordings I ever published as Whip Angels, Temple ov Saturn, Pope Joan II, blacktantra, all my collaborations, publications, performances, commissions, photos, etc… Check it out here.
(I also want to have ALL of my work thus far printed in a catalog/reference style book merely to preserve my work in print. Then add new volumes to it each year.)
I have some cool commissions already on the table for early 2021 that I’m excited about. I went into 2020 thinking it was going to be a really big year for me, and at the start, it seemed like it would have been. The pandemic, the lockdowns, the economic turmoil put a damper on that. I think the hardest part was feeling like I spent years building up to this point in my career and then it came to a screeching halt. But hey, I’m still breathing. I have no expectations for 2021. I’m simply going to continue my work and hope for the best.
Thanks to everyone who has generously supported my work and to all of those who paid attention. There is much more to come. Be well in 2021.
This week between Christmas and New Year’s I’m taking off to relax, spend time with my family, organize, and prepare for 2021. So no creative works have been made this week. I’ll be back to work in January.
Blessings to all,
Joan
