passing through
This was my ritual,
this my spiritual event.
Passing Through was my self-inflicted rite of passage.
It took four years of distance to the original events to at last complete the booklet in its final form.
I’m on the other side now,
glad and relieved for the symbolic act to have become its own memento.
>> see excerpt below
>> limited editions available here or at Spartacus Books
2019/2022
scope of work: conception, writing (unless otherwise quoted), photography, layout, print.
hand-folded, cut + bound.
40 pages, set it Dolly Pro and Absara Sans
Passing Through is a hand-bound booklet 4 years in the making. For the majority of that time it was patiently waiting to be proof-read, bound and finished, as the first version was finished in 2018 already. In retrospect it need that time to become its own thing, and even more so I need that time to let go of it (and it’s meaning to me).
Passing Through is a small collection of stories, poems, photos and quotes surrounding themes of growing up, becoming one’s own person, finding a comfortable position between being a daughter and soon-to-be mother. Passing Through came out of a 4 month long journey back to my home town Laa/Thaya (Austria) and some surrounding regions and countries. In retrospect I think I needed to re-identify with the past as the present version of myself I had become by living abroad in order to move forward eventually. It was the most conscious way I’ve ever lived through themes of separation and finding ways to let go, while simultaneously keeping track of them in writing and photos.
The booklet barely scratches the surface of this process, but I was hopefully able to capture some of the milestones and reflections on letting go of hypothetical versions of myself. I created this booklet for myself originally, with the intend to show it to close family possibly, but as time passed I felt more and more encouraged to step into the footsteps of the authors I have been most inspired by, as they were sharing their most personal stories, even if ambiguous or cryptic yet poetic versions of them. And most of the time that’s what they are in real life as well. No story presents itself with a clear beginning and end and meaning pre-prescribed. But it’s through reflecting on certain events that we can find relieve and poetry in them. Passing Through is one attempt to do so.