LISTEN TO EPISODE HERE:
Audio Script:
Wine pours into a glass.
Hello and welcome to Moving Mango and day four of our pilates workout series. Today I will share with you a stretching pilates workout to help you stretch your whole body without holding one position for so long.
Sounds of guitar tuning, typing on a keyboard and the clicking of a mouse.
You eat breakfast and jump on a call. I make breakfast. We listen to CBC radio. We eat. I put the dishes away and try to clean up a bit. These days you like to work in the kitchen even though we have the studio. We don’t like to be in the same room at the same time while we’re both working. It’s a bit weird I guess, and too distracting. Today I sat in your spot because your spot is getting more sun now that the time has changed and the days have become later.
Five times with your own breath do it slowly. Inhale and exhale. Four, three, two, and last one.
COVID is, or being in semi-lockdown, is just like strangely, exhausting, but also you feel like you’ve done nothing. The combination of putting in so much effort to get any result combined with very little physical displacement and physical interaction can feel disorienting.
The scroll of a mouse.
These days in the evening, I’ve been having some Zoom conference or video screening or panel or something that I have to tune into. I used to find in annoying but now I’m kind of liking it because it’s too cold to do anything else and too cold to see anybody so I kind of like it because it’s like a thing to take my mind off and signal the end of the work day, even though tuning into those things is kind of still work, but also allows me to feel like I can get off of work and still be productive.
Slowly bring your head back to the center. Open your eyes. Beautiful.
I just feel like it’s a very interesting time. We’re both here in this very small space, and working on very separate projects, at the same time. I was thinking the other day, I feel like I don’t usually tell you what I’m doing unless I’m complaining about it.
Laughter.
Because I have a lot of shit on the go and it’s not like I’ll sit and give you a breakdown of everything I’m doing. But I will only talk about it if I’m annoyed.
Completely.
I just realize sometimes that I’m so in my head, even though we’re right next to each other. The same with you I don’t know everything you are working on.
No absolutely. It’s so true. It’s really funny. Because like, we’ll check in, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get into the details. Especially before this, when you had more people to talk to throughout the day, who might have more experience dealing with the things you are dealing with, you might get those conversations out of the way. On my end, I’ve been working on a record for like two years and you’ve just started to hear parts.
Well I’ve been hearing a lot of the songs, I hear you work on it, but it kind of blends…
But that’s because it physically makes sound.
Yes.
Like if it was on a screen.
That’s the thing. You’re not looking at my screen all the time.
I think about this all the time though, because you’re working on something so much and its occupying so much of your mind. And then you talk to someone who you feel close to, and you’re pent up about this thing that you’re working on, and you’ve been working on it for an extended period of time, maybe months, and you bring it up in a conversation and they’re like “Oh I didn’t know you were doing that.” And you’re just like “I thought we knew each other!”
I think for me that’s one of the… Even in my own personal work if I’m struggling with something, I need to do calls with people, that’s the only thing that helps me get through these roadblocks. I’m not someone who works well in that kind of isolation. I do need community help. And I think I’m pretty good at asking for help, while I know other people struggle with that.
Part of it can be, you know a time will come when someone else will have to look at it, and you’re like, why not make that sooner than later, and make that somebody, someone who’s opinion I’m going to value.
Rotate your ankles. Three, two, one and reverse.
How do you find right now, balancing all of that work along with having such a demanding day job?
Oh it sucks.
Laughter.
And then being trapped inside. Before the release was going to shows, as much as you’ve been super hardworking ever since I’ve known you, it’s crazy the amount of projects you are juggling at any given time, but then going to shows was kind of payoff, or the release almost. Along with the social and being part of the community. For me too, those moments of socializing and celebration… but now we can’t. And it’s hard. Will the community exist in the same way when this is over?
Today in particular is a funny day, because a project I worked on a year ago is being released and I would love for today to be accompanied by me going to see that band play their record. But that’s not happening. So yeah, it sucks. It’s hard, because we can’t have our communal experiences that we’ve built and built industries around. You know, people have jobs off of working the bar at these things. So it sucks, its hard, its not good, but at the same time we can still relish the communal experience of celebrating art in small ways.
Guitar riffs.
That adjustment to a new life program will inherently feel overwhelming, even if the conditions of it on paper don’t seem overwhelming. Change in and of itself takes effort. When your circumstance shifts massively, even if you can say the payload of my new reality is not that high, dealing with that change comes with an effort level. It’s easy to disregard, but it’s also naïve when people switch things up massively and then say; “Well it shouldn’t be that hard”. You changed everything about your structure. It’s not that its hard its inherently super different. To try and pretend that it could be easier, even if the workload seems lower, I think you’re fooling yourself a little bit.
Mouse clicks.
Typing.
Cat purring.
Typing.
Cat purring.
Inhale deeply. Exhale deeply. One more deep breath. And exhale.
And that’s the work out for today thank you so much for joining. I hope you already feel more flexible.
Cat purrs louder.
Ok, now Mickey’s gotta do his little day job bullshit.
About Zinnia and Micah:
Zinnia Naqvi:
Zinnia Naqvi is an interdisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal and Tkaronto/Toronto. Her work examines issues of colonialism, cultural translation, language, and gender through the use of photography, video, writing, and archival material. Recent works have included archival and re-staged images, experimental documentary films, video installations, graphic design, and elaborate still-lives. Her works often invite the viewer to question her process and working methods. Naqvi’s work has been shown across Canada and internationally. She received an honorable mention at the 2017 Karachi Biennale in Pakistan and is a recipient of the 2019 New Generation Photography Award, organized by the Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada in partnership with Scotiabank. She is a member of EMILIA-AMALIA feminist working group. Naqvi earned a BFA in Photography Studies from Ryerson University and an MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University.
Micah Brown:
Micah Brown is a singer-songwriter, audio engineer, and producer based in Montreal, Quebec. Originally from Richmond, Prince Edward Island, he has been involved in music-making and collaboration across the maritimes and Quebec for over 10 years. He received a Bachelor's of Engineering from Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. During this time he co-founded SHED - Independent Music Festival, bringing over 30 national and international groups to the island of Newfoundland from 2014 to 2016. In 2017 Brown created Lost Opus, a media agency focusing on live sessions, video production and showcase booking. He records and produces live session videos for local , national and international acts.
