Decadence and Ruin
Volume no. 1 – Winter
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Newfound, an on-line journal devoted to literary, visual, and artistic perspectives and interpretations of the physical world. In this first issue, we feature work from writers and artists who explore both the decadence and the ruin of human relationships to the places that surround them. In “The Warehouse,” Anna McCarthy and Joe Schell find beauty and art in the abandoned ruins of the built environment. Their treatment of the urban “waste space” reveals the power and vibrancy that manifests when art and place interact. James Jack’s installation, “The Tale of Seven Herbs,” is a moving discourse on the power of renewal in the creative process, and develops new cultural connections to a closed silk factory in Kiryu, Japan.
Peter Goin’s “Desert Eclectic” echoes these themes while destabilizing the relationships humans forge between the built and natural environments. Goin is especially interested in human interpretations of, and alignments to, the American West, and investigates the power of regional associations that Emily Howarth also explores in her review of Best of the West 2009. In “The Romantic Ruin,” Will Viney provides compelling critical and philosophical analyses of human ruins, finding within them a “way to fashion the future and narrate the trajectory of built environments.” Finally, in poetry, Corey Mesler provides a slightly different interpretation of place in “Memphis Mojo.”
We hope you enjoy!
Gwynne Middleton, Managing Editor
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