I have carried out this research through writing, collecting and curating imagery and text, setting up a workshop series, doing interviews, and working with audio. It is never quite finished, as looking for romance is always already a failed project, but that is kind of the point.
In the first text, I set out my main methodology and argument. Throughout the rest of the book you will find visual works by artists Dagmar Bosma, Mafalda Costa, Mónica Mays and Becket MWN, in whose work I have located an aesthetic of romantic ruination. The second text is an interview with writer and artist Geraldine Snell, whose book ‘overlove’ (2018) interested me deeply as its protagonist performs a type of obsessive romantic pursuit. In ‘A gesture: I had a dream about you’ I investigate the possibility of dream sharing as a romantic gesture. The fourth text in this book is a writing prompt and essay about love tokens that I have written for Terrarista.TV in Kassel and afterwards altered for Read My World festival’s feminist journal writing workshop series. The aim of the prompt is to leave you with a (written) object that will meander beyond the words and images of this publication.
It is for sale at Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum (Amsterdam), San Serriffe (Amsterdam), KIOSK (Rotterdam), Claire de Rouen (London), Tender Books (London), Good Press (Glasgow), Rile Books* (Brussels), and via their respective webshops.
This publication is designed by Tjobo Kho.
