Flora Valeska Woudstra

grief is work of traces – working with traces.

just as this space holds, is held, by those who were here before, these words hold and echo the voices of alice notey denise riley savannah theis johanna hedva valentina curandi adrienne rich elizabeth jane burnett.

i am held by them.

the lines in this space are drawn in crip time, often from a body reclined, horizontal – bedridden. carefully sliced out of twelve notebooks, the lines are a means of listening to the symptom, listening for body voice, creating a language of collaboration. they are both translation and lexical gap.

facing the lines are grief’s horses. velvet ribs, warm breaths – studying them meant remembering touch, herd, collective mourning.

the body brings its symptoms with such precision. slowly i am learning to incorporate, embody, trust her narrative and temporalities. leaning into the wish that are ways of making an exhibition, collaborating, (re)building an art praxis in crip time.