JOANA P. R. NEVES

JPRN: THE APHANTASIC WRITER AND CURATOR

WHO AM I? 

I am a Portuguese, London-based independent writer and curator. I am also the artistic director of Drawing Now art fair and I have a plethora of on-going projects, amongst which the touring exhibition of the great artist Irma Blank (co-curated with Johana Carrier), an art residency program called Worlding in Elephant and Castle, and a Tik-Tok-lite educational program about drawing on Instagram with the collective Drawing TV.

WHAT IS THIS?

I love writing. It is a sensuous activity. It is also how I think. I also like thinking. When I read a book – and I read a LOT – my first instinct is to write. After I finished my PhD titled FOLLOWING THE INDEXICAL LINE, ETIENNE-JULES MAREY, DOUGLAS HUEBLER AND SOL LEWITT (in a pandemic-friendly, Zoom VIVA), I asked myself why I wasn't writing more. And I realised that I write all the time before the texts eventually become something.

As a contemporary art professional, my thinking develops a lot through visual arts too. Especially because I have a condition called aphantasia, I need to be in the presence of real art work. When I visit artist studios or exhibitions, I am compelled to write too.

I write about ideas that stem from these sensuous experiences, particularly ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISM, HOW RATHER THAN WHY, DRAWING, THE INDEXICAL, INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM, TECHNOLOGY, DISEGNO, ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF THINKING.

So these are not my finished texts, but they are not notes either. They are research texts, meanderings that give me intense pleasure, a pleasure that I want to share. I was always more interested in books that are fragmentary and less accomplished than the masterpieces. In those we can almost touch the brain of the author. So this is a way for you to poke my brain, get blinded by a few synapses, and eventually - hopefully - swim across my nervous system. 

WHY THIS?

The goal is both generous and selfish. I get excited about my ideas. But I also want to take them further. I will post once a week (except in August) and if you enjoy my texts as much as me, or would like to see them developed, get in touch. Shoot me an email! Otherwise, just explore and enjoy.