“I came across a note, the ripped edge of a yellow legal pad, tucked into the page of a novel. It read, “14,58,3” in one corner, and “observation – observatio – Latin – a way of orienting oneself to something else larger,” in the other.
14, the moon in the morning, or the streetlight, or both. A signal of attention, still shrouded in the fog of fireworks. I wondered, the constant, is it the haze or the orb these days?
58, after weeks of window observations, a four mile walk, along the boulevard, the center. Or rather, an attempt at a means of orientation. An inlaid compass that proclaims that this here is the geographic center of Queens. It is not. It’s not even close. Rather, it is miles off, a lost compass marooned on a paved island devoid of traffic, orienting itself to what or whom is unclear – a CVS, a 7-Eleven, a cemetery, a view of somewhere else. Standing amidst the eerily quiet lanes, the sun beats down, its own mystery.
3, the night, an orientation, oriri to rise. When you squint it comes into focus.”
Magali Duzant is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist and writer whose practice investigates the poetics of perception and lived experience through installation, photography, text, and artist books. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Queens Museum, NY; UQO Gallery, Canada; Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, AU and in upcoming exhibitions at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga and the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Dresden. She has published three artist books, I Looked & Looked, Light Blue Desire, and The Moon And Stars Can Be Yours.