ABOUT
“We excavate the deleted past by “rescuing” the individuals violated by what happened to them, and to us all.”
--Charles Francis and Pate Felts, "Archive Activism: Vergangenheitsbewaltigung!" (2017)
“We are proud to offer you visibility.”
—U.S.P.S., Confirmation of informed delivery
"Every present day is determined by the images that are synchronic with it."
--Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project (N3,1) (1927-1940).
"It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. You know what I mean?"
--Little Edie Beale, Grey Gardens (1975).
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MEMORIES OF ERASURE is a history zine whose current focus (for the most part!) is on psychiatry and the queer experience.
The first three volumes are based on the involuntary commitment of Swiss author & photojournalist Annemarie Schwarzenbach. They take place in 1941, at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, and at the Payne-Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in White Plains.
I adapted these stories from one of Annemarie S.'s last manuscripts, which was in draft form when they* died** in 1942. They died following forced treatment, at the Prangins Clinic in Geneva. They were euthanized, and their journals were burned by their mother.
The material seemed to be a good example of how silence and collective forgetfulness are achieved by force. My hope in this project is to undo that type of silence by a little bit.
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Text: Adapted & translated from "Das Wunder des Baums: Roman" (1941-1942). Via the Swiss Literary Archive (SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-2/23).
Biographical information: Schwarzenbach, Alexis. Auf der Schwelle des Fremden*. 2008. Munich: Collection Rolf Heyne.
Images: the Swiss Literary Archive, and the collections of Marianne Breslauer* and Erika Mann*, via Auf der Schwelle des Fremden.
Gif: Schwarzenbach family archival footage. Via: Une Suisse Rebelle, dir. Bonstein, Carole. Troubador Films (2000)*.
*Materials protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act. All rights reserved to the copyright owners.
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* Like the CoE I've practiced discernment and want to use they/them pronouns to talk about this dead historical figure. Bite me.
**Details of their death can be read in Alexis Schwarzenbach's excellent biography. And in this blog post.