One thing I really latched onto in
your last email is the idea the
anorexic as"an emblematic,
example of the 'ideal woman'
taken to her most literal and
extreme." The new edition of
Anorexic, Becoming posits
woman as a larva-stage to the
anorexic, if being made-woman
is a process, becoming anorexic
is the final stage preceding
death.This is not to say that
womanhood is a linear process,
one obviously oscillates, falters,
the anorexic is not permanent, it
is just as precarious as"woman"
I'd, love to read some of Eli
Clare's work on cure and illness
as precarious, please send me
any of his stuff that you think is
good!! The element of precarity
in anorexia is illustrated for me
in the domestic, the act-event of
Relapse, be it back into eating
after a fast, or into disordered
eating after so-called recovery,
guarantees the precarity of the
anorexic subject. I'd love to hear
your thoughts & experiences on
institutionalisation as it's not
something I've experience with
and is inevitably a crucial facet
of the anorexic experience.The
necessity of lifelong self-
surveillance within treatment of
anorexia that institutionalisation
attempts to impart again speaks
to this precarity, which you
discuss brilliantly! The way you
speak about the adjustment of
standards regarding BMI in
Bioempowerment and your ideas
on the Calorie really speak to
both the precarity and absence of
real meaning within diagnostic
systems, after all, they're
malleable for a reason, a
manipulable diagnosis can be
used to pathologise anyone. I'd
love to hear anything else you
have to say about the figure of
the Calorie because what you
said last email was absolutely
fascinating!
credits
from Electroskramz Mixx For Hype(r) Vizibility,
released July 23, 2020
Valerie McLaren is a London based visual artist and writer exploring anorexia, transness, chaos magick, and sexuality from an accelerationist standpoint (Burroughs) , working within the linguistic frameworks of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit [CCRU] , developed by expanding the conclusions drawn therefrom, working within the broad context of critical theory and blacktranslesbian abjection and pseudo black-womanhood + text-based artistic practices to express an essayist/textual perspective within a white dominated, colonial academic sphere.
Modular synths sparkle amidst piano, vibes, and other organic instruments stringing together constellations of sound. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 22, 2023
