There are no events but thoughts and the heart's hard turning, the heart's slow learning where to love and whom. The rest is merely gossip, and tales for other times. —Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm
Fathom: n. a six-foot unit of length used to sound the depth of water. v. to measure by a sounding line; to penetrate and come to understand. From Old English fæthm, "outstretched arms."
It’s been a difficult week. My cat P.B. has inoperable cancer, and his vets and I are trying our best to make the right calls. Yesterday, he ate well and chased his mousie toys down the stairs. Without the “forethought of grief” that Wendell Berry sought relief from in The Peace of Wild Things, P.B. takes it day by day. I try to do the same.
Partly, I’m trying to excuse myself for being only halfway through Julia Voss’s exhaustively sourced biography, Hilma af Klint, which I meant to have finished by now. I’ve read enough to recommend it, though. Much of the info below draws from Voss’s book. If you’re interested in Hilma’s life and work, you could also watch the documentary Beyond the Visible, which features interviews with Voss, and this beautifully filmed drama about Hilma’s life. I just discovered that Voss also collaborated with her husband, artist Philipp Deines, to create a graphic novel: The Five Lives of Hilma af Klint.
Having shared my sources, I’ll dive off the paywall…
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