F I O N A   P E N N

IN PROGRESS

This piece (not yet titled) focuses on self identification and the process that creates these identities.

I talk about my own identity through the history of archaeology, excerpts from writing, and my own investigations with my body.

This work will culminate in an essay film which will be screened in May of 2019.

Here are some excerpts of essays and images that will eventually make their way into the film:

To align oneself with the real while intimating that others are at play, approximate, or an imitation can feel good. But any claim on realness, especially when it is tied to an identity, also has a finger in psychosis. If a man who thinks he is a king is mad, a king who thinks he is a king is no less so.
an excerpt from "The Argonauts" by Maggie Nelson
It’s easy to forget what blameless ignorance can be because our culture calls it innocence instead. That heaps too much untrammeled snow and later says it’ssullied though the dirt was there from jump, and time refines it. Thusly unrefined I’m just not sure we understood. I know we didn’t understand what little sex we’d had, our bodies or the bodies of our lovers, young women lost in their way too, though smarter.
an excerpt from "A Kentucky of Mothers"
by Dana Ward




It is very pleasant
The all of all, reality, mind
the process of destiny
like the ocean full to the brim
like a dignied journey with no trouble and no goal on and on
Solitude
other than nature
smiling
Everyone is chosen and everyone knows it
including animals and plants
There is only the all of the all
everything is that
everything is innitesimal thought and action is part and parcel of
a wonderful victory
We seem to be winning and losing,
but in reality ther is no losing
The wiggle of the worm is as important as the assassination of a
president
an excerpt from Agnes Martin's notebooks
You found me among blank spaces
You filled me up
so there I was
I was passive
But somehow
You crammed me into existence