The title in italian translates to Double Knot. There are many elements to my process, including sifting through archival material, collaging, drawing and redrawing over and over. Language is always at the centre, as well as translation as a kind of play state. There is something spirited and spiritual in repetition. And it all comes alive in talking with friends.
This book includes a group of people who have responded to my work and mine theirs during the past decade. Some of them visited me during the period I hosted artist residencies in Italy, and actually many of them became lifelong friends through this shared experience. Caitlin Mason and Ella Mittas have given me photos from this memorable time together. Chi Tran and I wrote to each other during that summer of 2017 and a little piece of the record is here in the book. Carlotta Phelan documented my flooded house studio in 2022. There is also some Psychic reporting from Anna Savage and Black Hole (who wrote horoscopes for the Nimbin Good Times and happens to be my dear friend's Dad). James Vinciguerra and I often share our drawings as we are working them out via sms, as well as far reaching conversations from the origins of cochineal red to our grandmother's different leaf litter collection methodologies. In 2020 I moved back to my hometown and re-met Nat Briggs, we first met when we were 14. Nat responded through poetry to a body of work I made called Seven Circles. You will find this poem in the book too. Friendship is the meat of life, and this little book is another way I have found of tying it all together.
- Lucia Canuto