An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers’ planting dates, tide tables, and tabular information often arranged according to the calendar. Traditionally, almanacs are publications that are made to predict the coming year’s poignant events based on the collected past history of the previous years.
In the Almanac of the Everyday, I have collated and colour-coded my personal sentiments concerning common moments, over the course of days, weeks and even a year. I record and represent these everyday notions with glass forms. I am interested in discovering what visual patterns they may make, whether my singular experience can connect to others through this graphic language. By highlighting of these everyday occurrences, does this elevate the perception of their importance?
With these works I am looking to give form and permanence to the intangibility of time – the impression of both its impending and passing presence. I have utilised familiar structures and systems employed in our everyday to mark, record, plan and chart our time (such as calendars, weekly layouts, journals and self-adhesive notes). I opted to omit the usual text that would typically be added to each of these items. Instead, I have filled the available space with colored swatches that look to transcend the individual note by using the variation and vibrancy of hues to harmonise the sense of the situation within each swatch. I believe this allows space for others perceptions and impressions of their own lives. The glass allows me to present these abstract narratives and archetypally ephemeral daily acts as visually soft immersive fields that give rigid preservation and permanence.
Mel George, 2015
