AN ESSAY ON PSEUDONYM’S PARTICIPATION

Pseudonym is an indie magazine targeted at people interested in small artistic businesses and alternative styles in the South West. It features articles such as interviews of businesses, a film critic segment and letters from the Editor, Kat Jones. The magazine was started by Kat after moving from London and her job at Penguin Publishers to the South West and finding inspiration in the small, countryside lives of artists like her in the area.

Pseudonym features small companies such as Grace Dunning’s Made On The Chalk brand where she talks about her passion for soap making and how she hand-creates the dyes for her products from flowers in her own garden. Grace is featured with photos of herself picking the flowers for her dye, images of the fermented dyes and her products. The act of soapmaking captures classical feminine standards through the use of surrounding a white woman kneeling in a slightly overgrown garden in the middle of what looks to be an early autumn day. Not only does the flowers and the nature aesthetic reflect the essence of classic femininity that links with the Romantics image of women, but it also has connotations of Greco-Roman women’s strength, looking at symbolism of Athena, Artemis, Hera, Diana and others. The activity may be soft and careful and seemingly ‘natural’ but the strength of nature mirrors the power of women warriors of ancient times, or the women who worked as professional poisoners in 17th Century Italy, Britain and Spain to protect fellow sisters who were threatened by abuse from their husbands. As it could be discussed, this is reminiscent of the rarely seen female gaze, with the stature of a woman who is confident in her creative work – at peace, fully clothed, and looking comfortable in the safety of dungarees, embracing nature and all its essence like a witch.

We can also see examples of freedom from patriarchal standards by the example of Ben Parkes in this edition. Ben is demonstrating his use of alternative medicinal and mental health based business through Yoga. The images accompanying his interview and his tips on getting emotionally and spiritually ready for the transition between seasons are low key lighting on wooden floorboards, in modest and comfortable looking yoga pants alone. This is not posed as a sexy image, nor the image of perfect physique, but as human and at peace. He demonstrates several poses: the Balasana, the Sankhasana, the Paschimottanasana, the Ustrasana, Parsvakonasana, the Parivrtta Parsvakonsana, the Anjaneyasana and the Sukhasana. In each of these, he comments on the translation of these terms, and how to perfect the poses and calm the breathing. This, according to Judith Butler, still feels masculine to us due to the changing nature of gender, and the confidence under which he presents his masculinity. Although it isn’t the typical chopping wood and hunting level of classic masculinity presentations we’re used to, doesn’t make the natural, peaceful messages any less masculine.

by Maddie Thomas

Sixth Form Student in Wiltshire
Instagram: @maddie208

Elena Catalina is a photographer who has just graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts from Portsmouth University. She is accredited in this article for her impact bringing her culture into the forefront of her art. Elena was born in Romania, and she focused a lot of her art on the influence of the culture on her life. Her favourite topic being the relationship between sisters and mother and daughter, something heavily important in Romanian culture. Her art has less political remarks, that may have been classically important, but it’s more focused on family. There’s a form of classic feminism that has a strength to it within the writing of Pseudonym that makes it impactful and able to adjust to a large amount of creative audiences, because it doesn’t expect feminine juxtaposition like cinema does. There’s a photo, Elena’s favourite, which is of a double c-section overlapping, showing the connection of her sister and herself, both girls who went to Portsmouth to pursue further education with each other’s support, and their praise of their mother.

Finally, I want to comment on Kat’s own representation of herself. Kat Jones is a woman in her late 20s with an artistic passion. Having met her a number of times briefly on my way to school, I can tell you she’s generally a quiet, educated and intriguing woman. Her first entrance to issue 7 begins with ‘Well, bloody typical isn’t it?’ Kat treats the readers like close friends, and doesn’t baby them with her language, clear by the use of casual curses. This magazine is for the purpose of educated left wing readers (‘Bo-Jo’). She’s pictured as a classic woman all things considered, and poses around places in the wet countryside of South West England. She poses with sunglasses placed high on her head, looking into the sun, or whatever sun there may be. This gives the South West an exotic aesthetic, something Kat seems to be vastly passionate about. Her time in London has clearly inspired her with her ideas of what society has been, and what it can look like. Clearly she takes to the countryside as an exotic adventure herself – embodied by the experience of the 20s. She’s a woman running her own creative passions, wanting to share them with others, and share others experiences once again. Both a businesswoman, a creative, and a passionate woman with anything she does, there is truly an image of a woman who breaks rigid stereotypes and forms femininity into whatever it wants to be, and comes across as a deep individual, but a resilient, soulful professional at the centre. To conclude, the Pseudonym magazine represents not gender specifically, but a deeper experience of shared creativity, no matter what forms it takes. There is praise for bright new, very South West experiences and with this new Londoner’s experience of seeing our behaviours, we learn to see our own experiences in a new, exciting, exotic light like she does.