#detectiveaesthetic
A prompt for you this week.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. But I do have this certain…energy… that I recognize as a deep down archetype. This energy means that when I really get going on a project I’ll say, “I’m in meme guy mode” and that’s shorthand for:
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT
CLOSE UP Camera pans across a filthy desk in dim fluorescent light, past a coffee pot full of stubbed out cigarette butts, a half-eaten deli sandwich sits on a manila envelope marked “EVIDENCE”. The camera pulls back to reveal a city map criss-crossed with string connecting salacious surveillance photos, wanted posters, ransom notes…
And I am the unshaven, grizzled P.I. staring at the wall.
Or:
I’m the upstart scientist. I’m James Spader in Stargate pulling an all-nighter with my texts on obscure hieroglyphs, knocking over coffee cups with my massive calculations, dry erase marker flying over luminous acrylic star maps, always one connection away from unlocking the portal to my next cosmic dimensions.
I’m basically Mulder, but the paranormal phenomenon I’m triangulating around is my own mysterious creative impulse.
In other words, a usual day at the office is about constellated connections.
It’s not just when I’m deep in project mode that the archetype emerges.
My home and studio can be classified in a couple ways. “Bohemian West-Coast Maximalism” might be the tags I’d use for interior design pics on Pinterest, but “Lisette’s External Brain” might be the most accurate way to describe these walls. Art (old & new, mine, my father’s, my friends’), photos, keepsakes, textiles, bits of poetry, found objects… A new neighbor once said, “OH MY GOD!! IT’S LIKE A JEWEL BOX IN HERE!!!”
My favorite way to spend at least some time every day is to plop down in a comfy spot, hold a pen over an open notebook and just let myself gaze with an open mind at my walls. I am pulling connections together, awaiting new synthesis, for new information to emerge, readying myself for the next ah-ha. Armchair sleuthing, but it’s just me trying to figure out my own mega crime spree called “Being Alive As A Creative Human.”
Who’s behind all this? What are they getting at with all these random parts? Where does it come together? What have I been conspiring to do behind my own back all along?
And I usually find astonishing answers there.
In fact, I make a general sport of this type of soft, constellated observation. I really think best through systems. I like to co-think. I co-think with nature & my notebook. I lead co-creative games & creative lessons. I constellate my brain with friends and Creative Partners who mirror various parts of myself back to me & give me triangulated clarity on my path. Through over 20 years working with the Enneagram I feel an instinctive net of inter-social motivations & gifts criss-crossing my relations. I’m enchanted with oracular feel-thinking, the state of mind and presence that allows us to look at 5 tarot cards and divine meaning via their implied relationships.
We may secretly suspect we contain multitudes, but in a world dominated by capitalist extraction that insists we must specialize into one marketable function, most of us feel pressured to flatten our dimensions. We silo and separate, reducing our complexity in favor of market viability. But obviously your complexity doesn’t go away— It just sneaks into interstitial realms, awaiting discovery from the dogged sleuth who is dedicated enough to seeing the whole picture. Or maybe just good at looking at things from the periphery of her vision.
A PROMPT FOR YOU:
How many interesting messages can you find hidden around your space that you left for yourself to discover? Maybe maximalist walls aren’t your thing, but anywhere you gather stuff together might be magical territory for an oracular stare-down. Is it your main work surface littered with coffee mugs, crumpled receipts & a photo taken before you were born? Your altar? The pantry? I propose you sit in front of one of these collections of stuff with soft eyes and an open notebook and write down anything that comes into your mind when you ask yourself “What story is this collection trying to tell me?”. An entry point: Write down the first three words you think of while you contemplate the collection & let that lead a page of writing.
Comments are on for paid subscribers: Share your three words with us!
Various sources:
https://www.pinterest.com/akandetayo/crazy-wall/
https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/news/a7703/detective-show-crazy-walls/
Thank you for sharing this clever, honest and engaging newsletter. I also enjoyed the Esquire article you linked. Funnily enough, I've often described my mind maps, system sketches and other meanderings as a cross between "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Usual Suspects"—without the schizophrenic (I think) or serial killer (definitely not) aspects.
Resources, Rummage & Realms. In other words, supplies scattered in a space surrounded by psychedelic-, spiritual- and ascent-spotlit inspiration.