Diana's Virtual Tape

Recent Developments, Invitations, Reflections and Tidbits

DGAU 3: i live here


 

It is official
I live here
Bank, Buses, Food, Phone




Residence permit examination 
Car purchase
Left side driving with a Bollywood soundtrack




The last three weeks have been similar to a treasure hunt
I show up
The next door opens
I show up again
More




Satyendra to Le Morne
Krishna to Tritonik to Virginie
Diana to Stéphan and Yannick
Le Sapin

Ledikasyon Pu Travayer to Lindsey Collen
Harry and Scout to Natalia
Jean-Clément connects to Marousia and Alain
ABAIM




The ‘invisible hand of guidance’
as Alain says.
So I have stopped planning as it seems
the wild wonders of being alive is better experienced without an agenda

Instead
so i can talk with people
Mo pe aprenn Kreol ek mo kapav koz en tigit
(I am learning Kreol and can speak a little)
et
je pratique mon français aussi



I am learning to sing Kreol songs and play the Ravann
I go to ABAIM rehearsals
(more soon of my experiences with this profound organization)




I go to events and moonlit musical soirées on the beach
I have a piece in a show at the Institut Français de Maurice in July
I chat with the ladies at the pastry shop in Kreol and French
I say good morning to the Indian Ocean every day



I get lost
and then i find something new.


xox, Diana

 


Diana’s Gypsy Adventure Update 2: Visions

Good morning from my perch in Mauritius!

 

With tea, fresh bread and a strong breeze,

I bring you my latest report from the village of Flic en Flac.

 

It rained for most of the second week after I arrived.

Flooding rain that takes down trees

and squatter villages.

In between storms, I would go for walks to collect things,

getting visually acquainted.

 

First,

The way to the pastry shop

(as always, a priority on my list…)

Trees.

Pine, Pomegranate and Palm


A cactus security fence


This branch came from a fallen Baobab,

known as a symbol of peace

and non violence,

downed by the deluge in Port Louis.


Newspapers.

 

To practice French

a skill that needs to be in working order for the research

and to make friends

(another two important priorities)


Seeds.

 

Mr. Roy calls this one a ‘wild plant’

a twisting vine that I found on the cliff path

that hovers by the sea

 

I have been reading about plant-based healing traditions

tinctured from wilderness vegetation

and grown in kitchen gardens

Much to learn from the wisdom of traditional medicine here


And Food.

(of course)

 

Dragon Fruit

Hard to go wrong with a name like that

Fushia flesh and tongue burning sweet


Still making things everyday

Meeting people

Music

Books

Kreol

Wedding sari shopping

Art openings

 

More soon.

With the storms lifted, it is full force over here.

 

Sending you Indian Ocean sunlight and Wild Plant embraces,

Diana


ps.

if you would like to know more about my current project,

FreeForm,

which is the purpose of my expedition to Mauritius,

please click here.

Diana’s Gypsy Adventure Update 1: Touch down in Mauritius

DGAU1:  Touch down in Mauritius

After receiving a warm letter of congratulations on the Fulbright from my absolute favorite senator, Bernie Sanders (lord, I love being a Vermonter)

and taking a bath with Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, which is the perfect send-off into the unknown,

the caravan of family, best friend and dear puppy made its way to JFK
and to the smoothest sequences of plane travel I have experienced in years.

South African Air, my dears.  
Take it.

The people were so kind
they give you orange socks (my favorite color)
AND
the food is amazing. (i kid you not. Their lamb business was a delight for the taste buds, and I did not take plane ‘meditation.’)

Watching the sunrise over Botswana
and gazing at the brown meandering rivers of Madagascar

I made my way to the isle for which I have been researching and dreaming of for 3 years,

Mauritius.

Extinct volcanic peaks,
sea-aired with dense population at its core
Plumed with color streaked birds and macaque monkeys.

My six languages fluent landlord refers to the view in front of the apartment as the edge of the world. I can feel the vastness working on me already.

Strategically selected objects have been unpacked
and transition is in full swing as I melt into Mauritian time.

I make things every day.
I eat pastries every day too.
I speak French when i can.
I walk.
I try not to think too much.
I talk with people.
I swim.


I need to speak more french.
I need to buy a car. 
I need to eat more.


My health hasn’t been this good in years.
My hair is loving it here. Curls.
My apartment is magnificent, filled with the murmurs of 
my French neighbors and crashing waves on the shore.
My sleep is still strange from the jet lag, but after months of insomnia,
my resilience is high.


More soon, my dears. 
More unknown to leap into.

This is my world at the moment.  The UPS man has learned Parker’s name. Box cutter comes out today and the suitcase packing begins.  5 days.  5 days to take off. Now, it is starting to dawn on me.

This is my world at the moment.  The UPS man has learned Parker’s name. Box cutter comes out today and the suitcase packing begins.  5 days.  5 days to take off. Now, it is starting to dawn on me.

Global banking is weird.   I’m filling out all this paperwork and then, if it all works, i will have money in an account 25000 miles away, waiting for my arrival. Weird.

Global banking is weird.  

I’m filling out all this paperwork and then, if it all works, i will have money in an account 25000 miles away, waiting for my arrival.

Weird.

It became real today.   Why? Because my ticket has been booked.  I thought i was calling to get the process started. Then, with a whirl, there was only one flight option, flying through Johannesburg and its done.   Like that. Whoa. So I screamed my head off and ran around the house.  That amused the dogs. And now i’m doing paperwork.  Because this.  This is now for reals.

It became real today.  

Why? Because my ticket has been booked.  I thought i was calling to get the process started. Then, with a whirl, there was only one flight option, flying through Johannesburg and its done.  

Like that.

Whoa.

So I screamed my head off and ran around the house.  That amused the dogs.

And now i’m doing paperwork.  Because this.  This is now for reals.

75% French with Malagasy influence and a very loose grammatical structure.  10,000 words. And super fun to speak.  I’m getting excited for this part of the adventure. New favorite phrase.  ”Kikisasa?? “ What’s the fuss all about??

75% French with Malagasy influence and a very loose grammatical structure.  10,000 words. And super fun to speak.  I’m getting excited for this part of the adventure.

New favorite phrase.  ”Kikisasa?? “

What’s the fuss all about??

The time is upon me to book tickets and confirm an exact date. Ah! The way it works is that I need to out of the country for actually 9 months.  So if I leave on the 1st, I return 9 months later on the 1st.  I originally thought March 20, but that would have me return on December 21st (since it takes more than a day to get there… ) And, although I am not very superstitious, I did not want to travel on the date marked as the end of the Mayan calendar. Let’s not chance that one. Then I looked at March 15.  Well, also known as the Ides of March, Julius Caesar was assassinated on this day in 44 B.C.  And 15 is the number corresponding to the Devil Card in Tarot. Nah. So, I’ve now settled on March 18- December 18.  18 is the hebrew word for life. Consequently, the custom has arisen in Jewish circles to give donations and monetary gifts in multiples of 18 as an expression of blessing for long life. 18 is the age of adulthood, voting and sexual consent. In chinese tradition it can be interpreted as foretelling prosperity. 18 is the number of chapters into which James Joyce’s epic novel Ulysses is divided. My father was also born on January 18. So.  I’m liking 18.  Let’s just hope the embassy folks agree…. Next question.  Which city to connect through….  Paris, Dubai, or Johannesburg…..?

The time is upon me to book tickets and confirm an exact date. Ah!

The way it works is that I need to out of the country for actually 9 months.  So if I leave on the 1st, I return 9 months later on the 1st.  I originally thought March 20, but that would have me return on December 21st (since it takes more than a day to get there… ) And, although I am not very superstitious, I did not want to travel on the date marked as the end of the Mayan calendar. Let’s not chance that one.

Then I looked at March 15.  Well, also known as the Ides of March, Julius Caesar was assassinated on this day in 44 B.C.  And 15 is the number corresponding to the Devil Card in Tarot. Nah.

So, I’ve now settled on March 18- December 18.  18 is the hebrew word for life. Consequently, the custom has arisen in Jewish circles to give donations and monetary gifts in multiples of 18 as an expression of blessing for long life.

18 is the age of adulthood, voting and sexual consent. In chinese tradition it can be interpreted as foretelling prosperity. 18 is the number of chapters into which James Joyce’s epic novel Ulysses is divided.

My father was also born on January 18.

So.  I’m liking 18.  Let’s just hope the embassy folks agree….

Next question.  Which city to connect through….  Paris, Dubai, or Johannesburg…..?

So they speak French in Mauritius.   I took French in school. 9 years of it, to be exact.  Where did it go…..  Je ne sais pas…..  So in hope of truly communicating with people and fulfilling a lifelong goal of speaking another language fluently, I am digging in. At this stage, I am basically copying the text book into a journal, hoping the act of writing will transmit the language into my brain. If anyone has any bright ideas on this front, I’m all ears. (funny idiom…..) And once I get French under control, Mauritian Creole, here i come.

So they speak French in Mauritius.  

I took French in school. 9 years of it, to be exact. 

Where did it go…..  Je ne sais pas….. 

So in hope of truly communicating with people and fulfilling a lifelong goal of speaking another language fluently, I am digging in. At this stage, I am basically copying the text book into a journal, hoping the act of writing will transmit the language into my brain.

If anyone has any bright ideas on this front, I’m all ears. (funny idiom…..)

And once I get French under control, Mauritian Creole, here i come.

video work at drain magazine!

Some exhibition news for y’all today.  A video of mine, Duration, has been included in the latest issue of Drain Magazine, entitled POWER.  Thank you Avantika!

Duration is a video experiment using 8mm footage that my uncle shot while flying as a crew chief/door gunner in the Vietnam-American war.  The images are ordered by the duration that my uncle would keep the camera rolling, which is a different question when photographing on missions and gun-runs.

As I was working on another project with Uncle Bill and the VT National Guard, I noticed a military specific language of numbers, letters and nicknames that he and his cohorts used to describe the helicopters.  The soundtrack for Duration is an repeated alphabetical listing of this nomenclature to engage and illuminate this different use of language in a military context.