joannaliangart

[joannaliangart]

Hello! this blog is an attempt to categorize all* the art I've ever done! (more details on that below the bullet points)

It's still a bit of a work in progress with uploading previous work; once I'm done with that I'll start linking this tumblr on my various other social media probably maybe lol

#Tagging system:

(all art is also tagged with their title+year of creation. you could use tumblr's archive view to sort by year, but at the start of this blog I was uploading a bunch of old art a lil out of order so that won't really work for most work made before 2024 lol)

Mediums

acrylic

animation

artist books

books (also see: zines / artist books)

comics

craft (ie kinda like more functional than conceptual, e.g. earrings or bowls)

digital

etching

gouache

illustration

linocut

markers

mixed media

photography

plants (when I use. dried plants etc in my work)

poetry

print (ie printed matter)

printmaking (also see linocut / etching)

risograph

storyboarding

textiles (includes if I paint on fabric)

video

watercolour

zines

Categories/context

amv

apple (my cat lol)

commissions

doodle sheet

fanart

fursona

ib art (also see: uni)

map part

me (also see: fursona / moss)

moss

oc (notably: bluebell littleears / candle light / caligo)

peppermint-moss (youtube videos/commission work will have this tag)

plein air

process (ie sharing thoughts on concept/creation process)

scribbles (ie doodles/quick work)

sketchbook

studies

uni

update later (a tag just for me; posts I want to write more on/add new photos onto later when i have the time)

wip (work in progress photos)

More blog context:

"but Joanna, you already have another art blog and an instagram and a portfolio website where you post art!" Yes I know I have also been agonizing over this lmao. I've been just kinda thinking that man I make art for SUCH different audiences sometimes and I've finally relented to the necessity of dividing that art up into different accounts and places in order to give my work more clarity to those different audiences. BUT for ME I'd love to have one place where I can kinda just see everything and talk about all my work existing together... So this is what that blog is! It's All* My Art. I do love archiving and organizing things haha

This blog will also be the place I share my thoughts and process about a piece! Really going into the more traditional idea of "blogging" with this one boys

(*all is not quite accurate because for work made before 2018/19ish I'm just choosing what I think was significant to me/interesting in my journey. also *all except for I'll probably only put digital art that i feel is significant on this blog. see my peppermint-moss blog for a comprehensive look at all my digital art/animation and wips)

OTHER ART ACCOUNTS:

@peppermint-moss (tumblr + youtube) 🌸 digital art, animation videos, fanart 🌸 also see: digital art commission website (which are attached to the peppermint-moss name!)

@ joannaliang.art (instagram) 🎨 zines, artist books, some comics..... 🎨 more "visual art world" kind of things because most people who follow me there are from my university/similar spaces. a more 'polished' surface level look at my practice. (the place where I'd say things like 'my artistic practice...' and 'conceptually speaking my intentions for the piece were...' and whatever else lol)

portfolio website 🌱 the thing I'd send for applications/fancy people asking to see more of my work

this blog 💐 an attempt at a holistic catalogue of all of those things! + sharing my process/thoughts on my art

[joannaliangart]

A LIST OF THINGS I CAN’T REMEMBER (2024) 6.5 x 6.4 in 23 page case bound book and handmade pastepaper. Papercut art and poetry

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not sure if this is called papercut art? I'd been referring to it as 'paper art' in my mind but googling that leads to a lot of like, folded/oragami stuff too

final project for my praxis class in 3rd year! Got a good reception towards it during crit which was lovely C:

god this project took fucking FOREVER, I'm glad I did it because it turned out almost exactly how I pictured it but my goodness gracious AUGH it was a lil rough. I'd be working on this thing literally ALL day from morning till Very Late into the night for SEVERAL days straight to meet deadline it was kinda crazy. My floor was covered in a fuck ton of pastepaper I'd made and my finger was getting callused from holding the x-acto knife so frequently orz 23 pages of papercut images AND papercut words?? whhooweee

Watching a fullplay through of in stars in time is what kept me company during those long long days and nights haha, tis a very potent memory I have now (which now that the whole project-making ordeal is over is a p fun memory lol; isat is v v good)

some thoughts about this piece I jotted down in preparation for crit day:

A list of things I can’t remember my intention was to gather a list of mundane unimportant things as well as more like sad or poetically troubling things to disrupt it throughout. At the end it says “if I want to remember these things” because that is also something that I don’t remember, and it’s kind of the crux of the whole piece as this book at its core is about what kind of things are worth trying to hold into in your memory. 

That last page had black text because it’s the hardest to remember or think about, and as such it’s meant to be hard to read/make out clearly. 

The wavy black on the spine area is supposed to be like an encroaching darkness of forgetting lol

used pastepaper to make paper art trying to take advantage of the textures and colours I can make with pastepaper

+crit day installation! There were no white plinths left just this bright pink one?? But I was like. Actually that might fit the vibe lol and I think it did C: made the whole piece pop

For the assignment requirements we had to choose something from one of the special collections we visited, and I chose Janet Kellett's beautiful Qualicum Blue. And was also sooo grateful that googling it brought me to a whole website of theirs that had info on its creation. It's what got me into the rabbit hole of pastepaper and hoo boy! making it was a wholleee process haha; here's the slides I made for when we had to present our material research:

I did a WHOLE bunch of experiments; I really wanted to know what I could and could not do with pastepaper and I'm glad I pushed the material so much in the amount of time we had to complete this part of the project. My prof was surprised at how many experiments I did haha

+fun fact: I asked my prof if they could recommend me a place to source black paper for my book, and they sent me to what looked like such a weird sketchy on the edge of town looking place lmao But it was all good they were like a mass producer of paper or smth and they had a lil storefront? in their warehouse selling what I assume were leftover batches in smaller quantities; that was p fun and! Now I know where I can find paper

Also I got some remarks that the papercut art reminded people of The Very Hungry Caterpillar C:

[joannaliangart]

Earrings I made this summer! I'd been on the lookout for fun earrings to buy whenever I went to anywhere that'd be selling trinkets, but I'm very picky with my earrings... So I was like. Hey I should just make my own!!!

btw the fish ones are based on this incredible fish plushie I got from a thrift store made by a local artist in Steveston, as the tag it came with said. But the artist's name wasn't on it so I don't know who specifically made them... So the fish design isn't my original idea I just loveee this lil plush so much I had to turn him into earrings!!

They all turned out pretty fuckin good I love them so much GOD it took so long but it was so worth it I have SO much fun wearing these... There are polymer clay ones and shrink plastic ones; I used pencil crayons to colour the shrink plastic and put UV resin over them (which was so spooky lol I hate the idea of working with resin and I did my best to be safe working with it orz The resin finish does feel soooo nice tho I'm glad I did it) and then set them out in the hot summer sun for a day or two to cure.

wip photos:

Sketching out earring ideas (+some doodles of Candle Light in the corner lol):

polymer clay wip +linking the fruity one:

I have a bunch of chains and jump rings from old unwanted jewelry I took apart, which was perfect for adding additional details and beads etc. Earring hooks I got a few years ago from when I was making earrings to sell at the student art sale (+bonus you can see the lil fish plushie those earrings are based on haha)

I really love earrings with lil dangly trinkets, I want to feel like a bunch of keychains!! It's grounding and nice (sometimes its sensorily too much for me lol but I usually just vibe check in the morning to see if I'm feeling up to wearing one with a lot of jangly bits and that works fine. plus I can just take em off if needed whatevs)

For the shrink plastic I drew the designs digitally first n printed them out so I could trace them onto the plastic.

+bonus a v shitty video I took of the nasturtium shrink plastic one in the oven (its v fun to watch it curl. too bad the lil toaster oven window is so dirty lol)

[joannaliangart]

a life(,) you know(?) (2022) photography, series of 20

A series dedicated to intimacy. Found in community gardens, golden light, and human beings.

individual titles: golden ribbon tree decorated with new leaves || kaleidoscope home || a sweeter checklist garden shed side || autumn flowers and compost lending hands a pair of gardening glasses || a pair of gardening scissors neighbours || Fruit Tree Project's Sharing Farm garden || the Carriere garden Cindy and Linda's garden || for October || little wallflower let's go through the garden || secret passageway || to pull up a chair history of the garden bathtub || we will never stop looking at sunsets

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My favourite photography series!! lending hands is still my absolute favourite. a pair of gardening glasses+a pair of gardening scissors I'm also p fond of C:

This was made for my second year photography class, I believe it was our first digital photography assignment, around the theme of "intimate life".

A lot of people tend to get confused about the title lol which is totally fair enough. It essentially can be read in 4 different ways with slightly different meanings, though they're all kinda about wishing for something better:

a life, you know? (as if saying to someone)

a life, you know (same as above but different inflection)

a life you know? (as if unsure about the familiarity of the life)

a life you know (a life that is familiar to you)

The whole time while taking the photos I was listening to the Rolodex album by the French Cassettes. Set the mood so perfectly I had such a beautiful time taking photos... Though it was getting a little trickier as the sun was setting haha. I went out to get that golden hour lighting, so there wasn't much time before it was getting too dark.

that last photo's title is inspired by one of my art history foundation year profs talking about photography and how there's so many photos of sunsets and we don't need anymore lol; it was in relation to some art piece that had a bunch of photos of sunsets I don't recall its title... Yeah but when I heard that I was like. bitch I've seen so many sunsets and I stop to look every single time. It's a little hard to see in the photo I think, but I took the photo when I spotted a parent and their kid tucked away together watching the sunset. So lovely and sweet...

+Here's me printing them with the school's printers lol. So slow... creepin

[joannaliangart]

air dry clay/wire earrings I made for myself in February 2021 (I don't wear them a whole lot nowadays but! Occasionally I do especially the umbrella/raincloud combo)

[joannaliangart]

some miscellaneous paintings of flowers I made in July 2022 (I believe it was primarily to test out the new himi gouache I got!)

wip photos (+a photo of the sweetpeas I was painting! They were freshly picked from my garden and smelled v nice and looked so pretty):

[joannaliangart]

Arts in the Garden 2023

In 2023 I was an exhibitor in North Van Arts' Arts in the Garden! Quite a bit of my work used plant materials and/or had themes around the environment/climate crisis, and in fact my ib art exhibition was originally conceived as being curated outdoors! So I was very excited to apply and very excited to have been able to show my work in this way!

The theme for the garden I was in was "Warm", and there were 2 other visual artists exhibiting with me, Donna Giruad and Thiseni Kristhorubadu! (who was actually a coworker and classmate of mine at the time, and it was complete coincidence we both applied for this event AND ended up in the same garden haha)

I also hosted a workshop as part of the event, making plant-collage books! which I pressed and dried a bunch of flowers/leaves for +brought other supplies. also made a lil how-to-fold a 1 page zine guide with lil drawn visuals! Was pretty popular with kids (one of my gluesticks and highlighters were destroyed lmao):

Artworks featured:

Rediscovery

Nests series: build a home and Flee The Nest

from the a life(,) you know(?) series: lending hands and a sweeter checklist

What Remains series

please return

2 dreams about disaster

Hazelnuts grow on trees

I also got news interviewed for this event!! Which is still wild to me haha v exciting; the news ppl came in while another artist and I were doing a first visit to the garden and figuring out where we wanted to place our pieces. I felt so rigid n tense during most of the interview orz but the interviewer was very nice and patient! Such a short clip was used in the video but I'm kinda glad for it haha I think they chose a good bit to include (out of all the who-knows-whatever-else i said lmao I truly can't remember) look at how cool and official I look what the heck man (cough back when my instagram handle was peppermint_moss lol):

Also I think I wrote waaayy too fucking much for my artist bio orz girlie you don't need to write that much askdlgh

The garden we were in was actually the one farthest away from me lmao and it was my first time driving on what I call a big boy spooky highway orz Was pretty daunting especially needing to drive there and back Twice for the 2 day event whooo man it was kinda stressful ;0; But I'm glad I did it! (Here's how a look at all my art n stuff packed in the car trunk ready to go):

Here's a few more photos I took of my pieces in the garden (I like how the dappled sunlight through the trees looks in these...)

[joannaliangart]

Human Nature (2021), my ib art solo exhibition! About using plants and nature as metaphors to symbolize human emotion and spirit.

It's quaint and patch-work looking haha but that's what makes it sweet to me. I know the photos are really shitty but they're the only ones I could find???? And they were like. crunched up lil screenshots of the original photos (so it's like. why didn't I just save the original photo file instead of taking screenshots?? who knows lol)

exhibition title was conceived of pretty early on into my ib art class, after I heard the song Give it Up by I Fight Dragons. "give it up for human nature!" ah I love how they sing that line...

My thesis in my curatorial rationale was:

"Human Nature explores the wavering personal connections we have and their impact on emotion, by drawing parallels to plants, animals, and the environment. My exhibition was influenced by the symbolic ways I noticed nature mirrored human life, and my experiences with how losing and finding connection with myself and others have affected me."

My art class had a garage door opening to the outside of the school, and I'd always wanted Human Nature to be located outdoors in some way. My original idea was somewhere else out on school grounds, but I think I wasn't allowed to do it there or smth?? Or maybe I think it was that I couldn't figure out where to display/hang certain pieces there (I think Rediscovery was the problem child cause he was so big lol)

I asked my teacher if I could use the garage door and they said yes! I think they were excited about it because it was a new kinda unconventional idea just because I think that garage door never fuckin gets opened lmao; day to day we'd just treat the thing as a second wall haha

This way we could also hang Rediscovery and something worth flying for on the bars of the garage door!! I went up on the tall ladder and wrangled with a lot of fishing line and wire lmao (here's the hanging of something worth flying for:)

Rediscovery looked SO fuckin good suspended with the breeze coming in and gently rippling the fabric AUGH it was perfect just how I wanted it ;w; I wish I took a video of it I don't think I did...

Here's me figuring out the projection of Unwanted; seeing which fabric colour worked better etc:

some random pics I took of please return (on the wall like an actual clock would be):

Also Yes Fruitless Longing was under the table because (ah here's how I wrote about it in my curatorial rationale:)

"Fruitless Longing similarly explores how the perceptions of others (or lack thereof) affects someone. It hides underneath the left table, shying from judgements and expectations. However, its lights only glow brighter in the dark— a fruitless attempt. The viewer has to crouch to get a good look at it, like coaxing a scared child out."

+bonus my embrace series was displayed in the nearby community centre as part of my art teacher looking into a space for her art class(es) to show some of our art if I recall correctly ^^

Artworks featured:

Rediscovery

something worth flying for

Wild Blood

Nests series: Flee The Nest and build a home

Unwanted

Uncertain Home

please return

embrace series

[joannaliangart]

Some things I made during the 3 day wheel-throwing class I attended back in 2023!

After my very disappointing ceramics class in which no wheel throwing was taught lol, I registered for a short wheel-throwing class with a friend! The class ended up being very small with just one other person so 3 students in total. Twas cozy and lovely!

These are the first things I've ever wheel-thrown, oh man it is tricky to get the clay to stop wiggling haha

For that second white+blue one (cough it has big warrior cats starclan vibes lmao), I was painting it with underglaze and ended up pressing too hard on a thin spot and it poked a dang hole into it :(( Augh I was so sad because that one was turning out to be my favourite with its fun ridges n compact lil shape and I was looking forward to drinking tea out of it... But it worked out because now I use it to hold my wires n stuff next to my bed, so I get to see it with its new function every day C:

+bonus this one was one my friend made and they were gonna toss it but I wanted to keep it so I'm the one who decorated it; its currently used as one of the water bowls for my cat haha:

+here's a pic of the white and blue one being used to hold my wires n stuff:

Sometimes I wish I did more ceramics but hoo boy I don't think I have the stomach for the amount of work and resources you need to put into it... But I think I would like it as an occasional hobby thing! The workload is big but the rewards (functional dishware Or fun little guy Or both) are so great...

[joannaliangart]

Cat and Fish ceramics (2022) slipcast salt and pepper shakers, spoons, and bowl/mugs

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General concept/theme with these is that the cat spoon goes fishing in whatever beverage/soup you put in the mug! And the salt/pepper shakers is the cat licking their lips satisfied with their caught fish hehe

Process details + photos under the cut:

made for my 2nd year ceramics class; Which was such. a pain. in the fucking. ass. Like good things came out of it but the amount of really draining work this class put me through was ROUGH

its also the time I got literally the sickest I've ever been, during a time where I had to be coming into the studio to work every single weekday just to meet deadlines. My cough did not go away for so long and when it did, a few months later it even came back for a while (only popping up near nighttime??) Until it seemed to finally completely resolve itself after like a YEAR. I'm 95% sure it was covid tbh... The test came back negative but I didn't trust those lil at home test guys very much considering how many variations were flying around orz ugh

This ceramics class was also a bummer because I went into it expecting to do at least some wheel throwing (as was on the course description...) But it was all slipcasting and plaster mould making and! I hated it!!! Don't get me wrong slipcasting is v cool, I just hated Doing it lol its hard fuckin work and working with plaster stressed me out orz

But! The nice thing about a ceramics class is you get some fun objects out of it which I always love...

Here's my sketches/ideation:

oh yeah also made some test tiles which was our v first assignment; used these throughout to test underglazes/glazes/colour combos:

Salt n pepper shaker maquettes! testing out two different designs:

Plaster mouldmaking my beloathed (salt/pepper shaker, Bowl, and Spoon+mug handle):

Slipcast the boys; drying before bisque. I'd have to redefine the details on the shakers and mug by hand because they weren't super visible right out of the moulds:

a Bunch o colour/glaze tests:

Also ran into a pretty major issue with the spoons... I 100% should have been putting a little hole in the top of the spoon handle so I could fire it via having it hang suspended in the kiln. Eventually I started poking holes by hand into the spoons, But having overlooked that from the beginning I had a good amount of spoons that were too dry to have a hole poked into and with the deadline so close... (and even with some new spoons I fucked up and broke a few spoons when I tried to poke holes augh) the techs in the studio said they could put em on lil stilts and fire them that way. And I thought ok that sounds good! But... I didn't realize I'd have to be sanding the lil bit of metal from the stilts off from where it gets stuck to the glaze... :((

(see that spoon on the far right with the hole on top? that's the ideal orz)

So I had to take like a diamond tip grinder sander thing and sand that off, but it was very difficult and unpleasant and loud and still left some grey blemishes. And I was still so worried that usability-wise, you'd put the dang spoon in your mouth and feel a sharp bit of metal cut the inside of your very delicate gums :((

Yeah so this whole class and all its projects were a big ordeal for me orz but at least I got some fun salt n pepper shakers out of it (I use the brown/white cat shaker to hold my cinnamon sugar now hehe)

Also storage was an issue, I had to get a locker space just for this class. I'd be cramming all my guys into my locker; kinda funny to open my locker and see a bunch of lil guys lmao:

I ended up giving 4 of my friends a mug and salt/pepper shaker combo each for Christmas that year! I hope they still use them lol but I'm not sure? The sad thing is that my own two mugs I had in my kitchen cupboard have. fucking vanished????? my parents say they don't know where they went n I literally have no idea either and it fucking sucks (if one goes missing it's like fine that sucks. But both of them?? What the fuck happened). I still have like two bowls (ie no handles) in my closet at least but those were the ones that I'm not sure were food safe lol

[joannaliangart]

and, hold (2024) series of 3 books made from walnut shell, hazelnut shell, and scarlet runner bean pod. woodcut prints and poetry.

About the wonderful magic, hope, and love that is a seed.

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Was introduced to the fun and beauty that is those lil diy Staples stamps back in my democratic multiples class, and was happy at the chance to use the one I bought haha. Was a little tedious putting in all the lil letters for each word, but stamping it was sooo satisfying

this ones cute and fun! Enjoyed carving the lil bean stamp C: I just used some scrap wood, it was kinda. a struggle lol And was my first time trying to make a woodcut but they turned out not bad I think

partly inspired by the word Encased, with its various definitions being:

be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form to (an idea, quality, or feeling).

provide (a spirit) with a physical form.

include or contain (something) as a constituent part.

Twas the first project I made for my art+text studio course!

[joannaliangart]

Last Name (2023) 25 page saddle-stitched book. 4-colour risograph cover, digitally printed pages. Digital illustration and poetry.

Last name is an illustrated poem. I rarely make work about my relationship with family because it always feels too fraught to draw inspiration from, but in this one instance I felt I could make art from it. My feelings around this piece and its subject are still complicated; so in an effort to be broad but accurate, I’ll say that Last Name is about not knowing what you inherit from blood.

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Whoo man. One of the pieces that weighs heavier in my heart than most cause the subject is more of a currently ongoing thing. I always really liked this poem though its one of my favourites despite its subject matter, and I was glad to turn it into a visual art project. twas my final project for a 3rd year illustration class

Might upload all the digital illustrations of the pages someday but I want to make some new editions of the zine first! Tis another piece I'd like to sell n get out there in the world; I have like 18 copies or smth right now but to be so honest most of them are pretty fucked up lmao I did not do a great job binding these orz

Really love how the cover turned out! I was very specific with my paper choice; there's this beautiful paper (I think its name was Stardust White) with lil coloured specks in it that I bought from my school's riso studio specifically for this project and I adoreee how it turned out. My first time doing a 4 colour riso print too! Still feels very ambitious to me haha

A bit of linguistic context (yep I was playin around with the tension/differences between Chinese and English language; how v cool of me):

Chinese names have the surname come first; so while my English name is Joanna Liang, my Chinese name is Liang Shu Ran. So when I say 'last name' in English it refers to my surname, But theres a disconnect/inconsistency because when literally translated, as the surname does not come last in Chinese.

This disconnect in what "last name" means serves as the conceptual centrepoint in this zine, representing the disconnect in culture, language, and family. In fact, in the title page, I translate the zine's title to Chinese (the 5 characters on the right of the phone):

Which, to give an accurate connotative translation back to English, would mean something like "final name" or "the very last name". (fitting again, considering I don't want children but that's a whoooooolleee other fuckin can of worms lmao)

In that title page, to the left of the phone is my Chinese name. But I've formatted it the English way, with the surname last: "Shu Ran Liang". And at the bottom, my English name formatted the Chinese way: Liang Joanna, with the title "translated" underneath as "first name" (so it still refers to my surname in this reversed formatting).

It's all kinda convoluted and complicated, which was intentional because that confusing and difficult to navigate path to understanding is precisely my experience with this particular aspect of my life.

+bonus here's this satisfying clean cut stack of pages ooooo *chefs kiss* Big stack cutter my beloved I'm gonna miss it when I leave uni it just so fun to use

+sweet things: when I was showing my mock-up with the roughs in class, one of my classmates said "that's beautiful" and pointed to the spread on page 21-22, with the fireworks exploding out of the panel frames. That was nice, cause I really like that spread too

[joannaliangart]

delivery for the ship of theseus! (2023) 25 page loose leaf book (incased via handmade envelope). Laser-printed screenshots and black-out poetry.

Delivery for the ship of Theseus! Is a collection of black-out poetry made from screenshots of my digital spaces: emails, calendars, notes, etc, from a variety of points in my life. A lot of these emails are from 2020, a time where my personal digital life suddenly increased drastically due to the pandemic. But I’ve also included emails from the farther past, such as an email letter I wrote to my future self when I was still in elementary school in 2016, that even just through blackout poetry reveals a large difference in tone and personality in my younger self, especially because 10 year old me used emails much more conversationally and mostly just with friends. Soulellis describes the infrathin the gap between two things as they transition/pass into one another. Delivery for the ship of Theseus! is all about the inbetween of changing, whether from a past self to a future self, or from text to degraded image, all archived in private personal spaces that are digital.

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final project for my humanities art and text seminar class! Partly inspired by this piece by @/septemberart

I was so worried I was gonna reveal sensitive info because the sharpie wasn't opaque enough or smth lmao So I literally took whiteout and THEN did black paint marker over it haha; was fun doin blackout poetry!

text + artist inspiration (as per the class assignment requirements lol. I wrote a whole essay but here's the abridged summary I wrote for the presentation slideshow component we had to do):

"Text: Performing publishing: Infrathin tales from the printed web by Paul Soulellis Artwork/artist: SCREEN_ by Ada Wright Potter I have used Paul Soulellis’ idea of the infrathin of digital to print (and back again), Ada Wight Potter’s art project SCREEN_ that looks at email as a private and personal space, and the ship of Theseus thought experiment to explore how digital personal spaces like emails can reveal how someone changes over time. How much of someone has to change until they are someone different entirely? How much does a text have to be degraded until they are illegible, read only as an image, not words? What is ‘read’ in the digital space as a text, versus an image icon or symbol (e.g. The ‘i’ icon to symbolize a button to click for more information)? By creating blackout poetry I had to ask myself what ‘counted’ as a readable piece of text a lot."

[joannaliangart]

how very far the stars travel (2023), part of Cycles collaborative book risograph, digital illustration and poetry

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I think that third image with the repeating illustrations of myself looks so cool hehe yaay

made for my democratic multiples class; twas our big collabo project! Everyone did one folio (so 4 pages total)! Was my first time glue/perfect binding something; the machine for it is SO wild lmao fuckin spinning spikes you drag along the spine... The quick slamming motion of pressing the cover to the spine fjsdklgh all so fun. And it we all did it together in the bindery room it was so lovely C:

And it was a complete accident, but the person who did the page before (Caitlin Ffrench!) and my page when put together makes like a sentence that flows into each other really nicely I love it so much... "I hope you still see / how very far the stars travel" augh how did that work out so good ;w;

[joannaliangart]

Garden Notices (2023) spiral bound fliptop book, 54 pages. Photography and poetry

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My last project for my democratic multiples class; Not my favourite but still p solid! Was pretty low on ideas but I still quite like how it turned out.

I was really worried this piece was going to end up being too thin ie too few pages, and object-wise I wanted it to look a lil more hefty. Which I thought was gonna be tricky considering I had such a short timeframe before the deadline, so I only single-side printed the pages and put a Lot of pages with like 1 image / 1 sentence etc

and it actually ended up being WAY thicker than I thought I'd be able to manage haha paper is so wild... Was happy with how thick it turned out to be!

[joannaliangart]

Sunlight is moonlight (2023) Coptic bound book, 39 pages. Photography and poetry.

Sunlight is moonlight is about many things; it's about the moon's beauty, about capitalism and expectations and not being in the moment, and about feeling inadequate and wanting to constantly prove yourself and chase after something that maybe you don't really need to capture.

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MY FAVOURITE PIECE EVER!! if you were to only look at one book of mine I may just say look at this one... augh I love it sm...

its a book about infinite growth and chasing something you've convinced yourself you need (especially in relation to capitalism, the climate crisis, and mental health, and how those things are all related)

I think its got a good ebb n flow of energy in the pacing and that last page with the lil window I really fuckin popped up it makes such a fucking good effect in the reading of it. Would love to add more to this project and get it published someday

I've had the idea about doing something with all the shitty moon photos I'd taken for a while now. It happened so many times, where there'd be a gorgeous moon out in the sky and I'd marvel at it my eyes sparkling, and I'd take out my phone to try and capture the moment and. my iphone would take the shittiest little photo lmao Literally just a weird bright blob

And when I DID have access to my more fancy digital camera (ie I was at home not out and about), I'd run outside, with such a frantic and desperate energy I still remember it. I'd try so hard to photograph the moon but even with the better camera I couldn't seem to do it. And I'd go back home, look through all the photos, and think Jesus Christ this is nothing. The moon is so fucking beautiful and these photos are nothing

When this assignment came along (twas open assignment no specific requirements; I believe it was our third one), I was really struggling with ideas. I was literally making my heart pound with anxiety trying to think of an idea in time so I would have time to finish the damn book before deadline.

I was listening to Phoebe Bridger's Punishers album on repeat around that time. I think Moon Song is what subconsciously got into my head and made me remember my 'shitty moon photos' idea. Honestly it wasn't my favourite song in the album (but only because I had others that were my Big favs lmao moon song was lower on my favs list Only because everything else was so good haha), but I've got a real fond spot for it now because of Sunlight is Moonlight. I think in my memory this project idea surfaced at two different moments: when Moon Song was playing in my headphones while I was waiting for the train, and then when I was taking a shower once I had gotten home.

Title and concept:

That fourth image features one of my favourite bits of writing I've done to date, and I wrote it truly on the spot kinda out of nowhere (kind similar to what happened when writing the poems for I sight freeze). I had thought of the title early on, and That page is truly where I Really connected all the dots in my head and resolved this project and solidified its concept (and therefore its relation the title).

The title "Sunlight is moonlight" refers to how moonlight is literally just the sun's light reflecting off the moon. "The title "Sunlight is moonlight" refers to how moonlight is literally just the sun's light reflecting off the moon. And this page in the book, particularly that last line...

"and one day just to see my moon glow again i will steal the sun"

its about greed and when taking is not enough because in taking it you have ruined your prize, and the solution you turn to is to only take more. (cough capitalism, cough overharvesting of natural resources to the detriment of fuckin everything, cough how some 'solutions' to those issues involve only making things worse e.g. selling you a product to a problem They're causing, taking even more natural resources to build something in an attempt to stop climate change)

[joannaliangart]

I sight freeze (2023) 5.5” x 5” x 2” Box book, 54 pages. Translucent sheets of different paper and plastic, black ink pen, gift box, and poetry.

I sight freeze contains a collection of poetry on the lesser known anxiety response: freeze. The loose, translucent pages visualize mental cloudiness. The poems are about feeling emptiness in a dishearteningly neutral and quiet way.

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one of my favourites... It's a very personal piece but not. a difficult piece if that makes sense? There's some pieces I make that are very personal and they still make me a little heavy to look at and contend that I made it into Something, but this one it just feels good when I look at it. Maybe that's just a testament to how much I like the execution of this piece though haha which is still good

This piece is one where handling it physically brings a lot to the experience of reading it. I was very happy during our crit I got a lot of positive responses to it; and several comments on how they were afraid to handle such thin and delicate material, Which pleased me too as I think fits very well for its concept (ie the freeze response as an attempt to become nothing in order to survive.)

Made for my democratic multiples course; This was our first like proper project (ie second after our quick intro assignment); I was having trouble thinking of an idea, and I was sitting alone in my bedroom at like 3am with my sketchbook. And translucent paper? for some reason? (It was like the paper they use for wrapping when u buy new shoes) I don't remember if I went downstairs to grab that or if I was just kinda drawn to the material and wanted to use it in the project but wasn't sure how?

Either way... I ended up just writing on the translucent paper, kinda letting whatever come to mind. and uhh a theme was very quickly established when I first started writing And then something fucking possessed me as is the tendency when you're writing and you're alone at 3am and I just. kept. going.

and was left with a very long piece of writing! That I later organized into pages and made I sight freeze.

I typed out and formatted and printed out the poems onto printer paper, and then using that as a guide I painstakingly traced the words onto different papers/plastic. I keep a lot of collage materials and I had a whole section dedicated to stuff of varying transparency (including a cereal bag, dryer sheets, the paper(?) that comes in iphone packaging, the shoebox paper, and other mystery stuff)

I got a star shaped hole puncher, I think I was searching for a box for this piece and saw that and was like ohhhhhhhh perfect!! Or maybe I was searching for it specifically? Can't quite remember lol but either way I'm very glad for it...

a lot of the stuff I wrote about is based off the disassociation star theory, ie spoon theory except for dissociation

Also! I know there's the fourth anxiety response fawn lol but this piece ain't about her I'm so sorry girlie. (if I were to personify them I think its ironic and funny that the fawn one doesn't get mentioned as if they're being like 'o no that's fine' fadksjlgh nooo I'm so sorry)

more detailed description of the piece:

I sight freeze is a book object containing a collection of poetry on the third, lesser known anxiety response: freeze. This work is about my personal experience with how my anxiety manifests; and the visual metaphors of mental cloudiness and dissociation are conveyed through the delicate materiality of the loose paper/plastic pages and stars inside the box that have varying levels of translucency, with some pages having poems and others being blank. The poems in I sight freeze delve into the difficulties of articulating your thoughts, feeling an absence of identity, and the fear of death. It’s about empty spaces and feeling like you are nothing at all in a way that is dishearteningly neutral and quiet.