THE S YLV I A F RA C T I ON S
87 Sylvia
Y’all Be t t er Quie t Down!/ Hall å , k an ni lugna ner er!
T he Jane /Joan Dialogues
In the middle of the 19th century, the British astronomer Norman R. Pogson is moved to India, one of Britains colonies. He starts working closely with his eldest daughter E. Isis Pogson, and with a recommendation from her father, she is also the first woman applying for membership in The Royal Astronomy Association. She is rejected, and their joint work is not recognized until much later. In four parts, with material from the Madras observatory, their work is revised, focusing on the discovery of an asteroid in 1977, given the name 87 Sylvia. Using a reproduction of the first text regarding the discovery, engraved in brass and with a personal addendum by E. Isis, a graphic 3D representation on paper, a postcard from 1792 depicting the newly built observatory and a newspaper clipping, questions are asked regarding center versus periphery, and the terms dictating a female professional role.
The American/Puertorican transactivist and Young Lords member Sylvia Rivera is said to have cast the first stone during the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, the starting point for the same rights movement working toward equal rights for LGBT (LesbianGayBiTrans) people. She is also one of the founders of the aid organisation S*T*A*R (Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries), whos main goal was to keep young homeless transgender and queer people off the streets. In connection with the 1973 Christopher Street Day Parade, Rivera delivers a powerful and defining speech in the Washington Square Park, accusing the then relatively new-formed LGBT movement of being white, neoconservative, excluding, racist and transphobic. Rivera is thrown off the stage, and after this incident she leaves the political scene as well as New York City completely for 20 years. The short film Y’all Better Quiet Down/Hallå, kan ni lugna ner er! is based on a transcript of Rivera’s speech. Together with the queer/feminist theater group Kvalitétsteatern, working in a collective spirit, a performative manifestation is created. The contemporary spirit of Rivera’s words is enhanced, translated and given form through their bodies.
The psychiatrist Jane V. Andersson studies one year above the American author Sylvia Plath, at the Smith College in Northampton, USA. They move side by side in the same circles without being close friends, and are also during a time committed to the same institution. The Jane/Joan Dialogues explores Plaths interest in “the double” and its consequences. Sylvia Plaths only novel and feministic landmark The Bell Jar is published in 1963, just one month before she decides to end her life and due to the semi-biographical contents, the book is not released until almost ten years later. In the late 1970’s a film adaptation is made from the book but without any larger success, and it is soon forgotten. In the film, a scene is added where the lesbian undertone regarding the character Joan Gilling is enhanced, and she approaches the main character Esther Greenwood (Sylvia Plaths alter ego) with an idea of a suicide pact “as lovers”. In the 1980’s the added scene leads to a legal process against Ms Plaths estate and the people involved in the film, the process being initiated by Jane V Andersson, who is said to be the basis of the books character Joan Gilling. Using a series of articles from the New York Times as well as the court records and material from the legal case, objects and documents from Smith Colleges’ archives, a fictional dialogue is created and enhanced, between the characters Jane V. Andersson, her psychiatrist Francis De Marneffe and the screen writer of the film, Marjorie Kellogg.
[1 3 — 1 7]
[1 8 — 2 1]
[22 — 32]
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