Our new poster publication invokes a pentagram. Through short essays by some of our favourite witchy writers and illustrated art posters we explore the elements, earth, water, fire, air and spirit, and their pull on the modern witch.

Includes
2 A1 Posters (59,4x84,1cm)
3 A2 Posters (42x59,4cm)
Printed in special colours.

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Climate change is as much a story of loss as it is of opportunity. In this issue of the magazine we look at it from both perspectives.

Opportunity in this context can mean stepping out of existing systems and finding ways to transform them. The obstacles that make such changes prohibitive are often financial in nature, and so it becomes important to deploy capital on the one hand but also to come up with plans that provoke a systemic change in established frameworks. We were thrilled to speak to two female change-makers moving the needle on exactly these two pillars: Kirsten Dunlop and Shiva Dustdar. Dunlop heads Climate-Kic, the EU’s largest public-private partnership addressing climate change through innovation. The organisation thinks about resilience and transformation in very practical terms and has teamed up with cities around Europe to marshal an era of transformation. Shiva Dustdar, on the other hand is the head of Innovation Finance Advisory, at the European Investment Bank. A bank that has announced its ambition of being Europe’s climate bank and the facilitator of the European Green Deal.

Further down the path of opportunity, the champions of the Green New Deal tout it as exactly the type of project that will bring in new jobs and a chance to usher in a manufacturing revival in the West. Many envision a new chapter in the future of the automobile industry. But at what cost? The story of lithium is an ambivalent one, in White Gold Rush we look at how the huge demand in electric vehicles is affecting lithium production around the world and what that means for the environment. Now, is the time to steer away from short-termism and have a long view on this, lest we respond to one
problem by creating another one.

As the world cynically looks ahead at COP26 which will take place later this year, and countries are expected to turn up the heat on climate jargon but continue business as usual in terms of action – countries’ net zero goals will come under scrutiny again. The reality remains, that even if we were to stop emitting any carbon today, there would still be too much trapped in the atmosphere, so carbon removal is an essential pillar in any scenario. In Carbon Removal, The Final Frontier we try to dissect how carbon offsetting and removal forms a pivotal part in net zero scenarios and what that really means.

Though we need to understand the opportunity for systemic change that the climate crisis affords us, at the heart of it, the changing climate is a story of loss. The loss of habitat, species, water and the homeland. In Lost Lakes writer Emma Bryce and photographer Solmaz Daryani take us on a journey in understanding what the slowly drying lakes around the world mean and have meant for local populations. Daryani shares deeply personal photographs from her childhood spent on the shores of Lake Urmia with her family and allows us to glimpse what has happened to the area since. Her powerful imagery documents the loss and sense of absence that has accumulated over the years and what remnants it has left behind.

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Icarus Complex has a simple mission: navigate the fine line between rattling your sense of revolt and your propensity to switch off and bury your head in the sand. Through provocative articles we tackle the big questions on all fronts and offer in- depth analysis of the various environmental currents.

This is the FIRE edition, the second in our series navigating the elements. Ignited by the transformational power of the mythical Phoenix, we’ve collected over 40 contributions of art, text, sound and smell across 72 pages and five continents from artists and academics, musicians and makers, scientists and researchers, therapists and occult practitioners, wildlings and writers.

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Wild Alchemy Lab is a resource for seekers, makers and imaginators. We are a multi-sensory publishing platform and global collective of artists, academic researchers and occult practitioners. Our transdisciplinary practice explores nature, science and esoterica at the intersection of plants, planets and people.

Alchemy is the arcane art of transformation, the physical and psycho-spiritual practice of turning the basic elements of our existence into a unified field that is aligned with nature and the cosmos.  It is an incremental process of recalibration that supports and informs how we are able to digest our experiences and consciously navigate the future. Wild Alchemy Lab evolved out of experimental botanical studio Mama Xanadu, founded by author and practitioner Jemma Foster, as a vehicle for distilling our experience in a time of crisis. We view creative expression, immersive experience and community action as an alchemical process that can lead to more valued ways of being.

The classical elements of earth, fire, water, air and aether provide a lens through which to investigate how both we place ourselves, and are placed, within our environment. These fundamental forces exist in the physical and non-physical worlds; the seen and unseen. In becoming apprentices to the wild and integrating the ancient wisdom and practices of our ancestors, we look towards our past in order to guide our future. We take up the macro-microcosmic vision of the Hermetic axiom ‘as above, so below’ – that everything in the universe is interrelated, nothing exists in isolation. By observing this phenomenon, we are able to work towards diffusing the myth of separation.

We prioritise real human connection to nature but also accept technology as part of our evolutionary road map and as a tool for expanding the horizons of our creative potential. If emergent digital platforms and innovations are co-created with nature as guide and medium, this can positively enhance, rather than distract, from our embodied experience and assist in our quest for future-facing solutions and inner expansion.

The themes for this issue are vulnerable, accessible, and sustainable, alongside a series of dialogues.

A HUMAN LIFE ENTWINED

In our first theme of this issue, Ugandan photographer DeLovie Kwagala takes us on a journey to the Quingdom, a gender-fluid imaginary world where people are free to be as they would like; Fijian climate justice advocate Kavita Naidu examines how vested interests need to be understood in order to resist and change the system; Noor, a young Syrian refugee, tells writer Daniel Briggs about the part that climate breakdown has played in his migration; and Ukrainian photographer Igor Tereshkov highlights the impact of the oil industry on the countryside and inhabitants of northwestern Siberia.

OUR BASIC NEEDS

Our second theme looks at two staples of our life on earth: food and water. One in 11 people worldwide go to bed hungry every night and one in 10 people lack access to clean water. These shocking statistics underpin My Life by Water, our photography essay looking at how people are struggling with lack of access to water, and Rebooting Our Food Systems, our in-depth look at the aspirations of chefs, farmers, academics and activists for the Food Systems Summit, which takes place later this year.

BE THE CHANGE

In our final theme, we talk to Irish chef Conor Spacey about his approach to sustainability and social responsibility; US architecture writer Avery Robertson questions the way in which futuristic aspirations for greening cities often focus on prestige projects rather than considering the wider ecosystem, and fail to take practical considerations into account; and Elder Dr Dave Courchene, of the Anishinabe First Nation, shares the ancient knowledge that can offer the world a foundation for the future.

DIALOGUES

Artists Alastair and Fleur Mackie examine the history of the corn spirit; artist and writer Christina Peake uses words and illustration to reveal how fluorescence links nature and culture across the globe; Anna Souter looks at how plants have embodied the uncanny in art, literature and film; Lori Hillman reveals the power of fire in the last of her series of essays about five element Taoist medicine; and poet Lemn Sissay reflects on the importance of water in his poem Hope Spring Eternal.

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Issue 7

Lissome Magazine Issue N° 2
Rewilding

In The Lissome N°2: Rewilding, we embrace our shared aliveness and joyfully dance for a “rewilding” of our world. We come to explore a new worldview for the 21st century (in conversation with biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber) and delve into how “enlivenment,” a culture of aliveness, poetry and beauty, could help break down the illusion of separation and heal our estrangement from the natural world (and thus ourselves). We look at how the “Earth Logic Fashion Action Research Plan”, outlined by trailblazing fashion academics Mathilda Tham and Kate Fletcher, puts forward a plan for the fashion sector that replaces growth logic with Earth Logic and with it, a new purpose for activity in the fashion sector, where actions lead to increased health of the planet and its people. 

“Localism gives us greater autonomy from global capitalism, and resilience through being able to better self-provision. And in so doing, when crafted from local fibres and dyes, our clothing reconnects us to our local landscapes and culture” – this is the liberating intention of the Fibershed movement, and we learn about it from Emma Hague and Deborah Barker who are pioneering the formation of regenerative fibre systems communities in the UK. Together with musician, activist and author Sam Lee, we travel through the world of folk mythology and sing with the nightingales, and we weave an ode to the unlit with poet Stacey Cotter Manière.

In “A Sensual Awakening”, we open our minds and hearts to the power and wisdom of pleasure and sensuality in fashion activism and life, and to rest and slowing down as a potent political protest. We explore the animism of supply chains in “The Life Force of Cloth”, and in “Reclaiming the Sacred”, we delve into the the timeliness of healing with plants and the world of modern witchcraft. We join permaculture activists and fearless forest guardians on their quest to protect and to live respectfully and in balance with the Earth. We treasure adornments from nature, and are in awe of ancestral craftsmanship techniques such as straw weaving, advanced by Emma Bruschi, the winner of the distinguished Chanel Métiers d’art 19M prize award for the 35th edition of the Hyères Fashion Festival.

And there is much more for you to discover – it’s a liberating ride of intention and beauty, opening the doors of perception.

A Mindfully Made Magazine: The Lissome Magazine is produced locally in Berlin by Druckhaus Sportflieger, a FSC® certified printer renowned for its high-quality and craftsmanship. The magazine is printed on Enviro Top U, a 100% FSC® recycled paper which is Blauer Engel and EU Ecolabel certified. 

Where the Leaves Fall #4

The themes for this issue focus on mutualism, interconnectedness, and pandemic, alongside a series of dialogues.

A MUTUAL FEELING

The issue opens with a look at how our lives are inextricably entangled with the lives of other species, and the way that artists and creatives are attempting to recognise this. We examine the legacy of George Washington Carver, the black son of a slave owner, whose insights into soil preservation and crop diversification in 19^th century America preempted the concerns of modern regenerative agriculture. And Brazilian chef and author Bela Gil argues that agroecology could be the key to ending climate change and food poverty.

OUR ROOTS ENTWINED

We find out how a 16^th century guru living in northern India has inspired ecology lessons in contemporary Dubai, and learn about the tenets of the Bishnoi community who were eco-warriors before the term was invented. Deepti Asthana’s photographic essay explores life for teenage girls in a remote Himalayan village. And Catherine Gilon connects colonial interventions in Nilgiris, southern India, with the current threat to native species and destabilisation of the ecosystem.

A CHANCE TO REFLECT

We examine how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected food security, with an insight into how people are finding local solutions to the collapse of global supply chains, focusing on initiatives in India, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, the US and the UK. And how the gardens in Domiz 1, the oldest and biggest refugee camp in Iraq, have become a symbol of hope to the camp’s 32,000 inhabitants.

DIALOGUES

Writer Maia Nikitina explores the way in which the Russian myth of Baba Yaga has evolved to reflect the country’s changing relationship with nature. Ellen Miles makes the case for nature access as a human right. And Sol Polo is inspired by artist Maria Laet’s work seeking to mend the divide between humankind and the elements.

Product Dimensions: 240mm x 170mm

Pages: 136

Sirene #11 (Autumn 2020)

32x23.8 cm / 100 pages / printed on paper made from recycled algae

Features:

Blue Humanities. The Ocean of Square Sails. Under the Sign of Alicudi. Bryan Di Salvatore. Nineteen Ways of Looking at a Wave. The Sea on Foot. Folegandros. The White Ships. San Blas Archipelago: the Water Lands of the Guna.

The New Farm

Contemporary Rural Architecture

Daniel P. Gregory, Abby Rockefeller

Recent generations of farmers have reinvented the family farm and its traditions, embracing organic practices and sustainability and, along with them, a bold new use of modern architecture. The New Farm profiles sixteen contemporary farms around the globe, accompanied by plans and colorful images that highlight the connections among family, food, design, terrain, and heritage.

Visit a Tasmanian sheep shearers' quarters with a dramatic coastal view and a bamboo-wrapped farm shed in Kentucky. Learn from a fourth-generation poultry breeder and newcomers who have stepped off the corporate ladder and into the barnyard. Projects include an olive oil grove and mill in California, the storied Stone Barns Center in New York, and organic farms in Canada and across Europe. An introduction places the design of these farms in a lineage of celebrated architects including William Wurster, William Turnbull, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Marc Appleton, and Tom Kundig.

Daniel P. Gregory is a longtime magazine and website editor and author of Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House. He graduated from Yale, received his PhD in architectural history from UC Berkeley, and lives in the Bay Area.

Details: Hardcover
Size: 8 X 10 IN
Pages: 192
Color: 150
Publication Date: 06/30/2020
Rights: World

THE GARDENS OF EDEN

Features:

Ocean Pools. Among the Waves of Mayumi Oda. The Sky Above the Boats. High Latitudes: Integrity at the End of the World. Paddle Your Own Kayak. Oxides. Surfing Explorer Peter Troy. Sand: Between Land and Sea.

32x23.8 cm / 100 pages / printed on paper made from recycled algae

The themes we explored for the second issue of Where the Leaves Fall focused on death, journey and seeds, alongside a number of essays in the dialogues section. 

ALL THINGS MUST PASS

In this section we look at how Ana Mendieta celebrated her own mortality in her work, exploring the cycle of life and death and our connection with nature. Transcending the spiritual and philosophical to the actual, Antonina Savytska’s visceral images of the last months of her aunt’s life paints a stark and honest portrait of our relationship not just with death, but the life that leads us there and the patterns and behaviours of the ancestors that live through us. And we look at how societal conventions around death, developed to make the process as comfortable and acceptable as possible, are being challenged by environmentalists with the aim of ‘greening’ the system.

THROUGH OUR JOURNEY

We begin our exploration of journey (as well as the cover image) with The Flower Laboratory’s reuse of heather flowers leftover from a fashion shoot as art, as communion, as rehabilitation. Then we explore the Russian cultural phenomenon of the dacha, the plot of land and residence beyond the city boundaries where people can escape to nature. With ayahuasca, another way to commune with nature, we question the impact of yagé tourism on Indigenous communities.

LIVING WITH SEEDS

Seeds are a ubiquitous part of our daily lives and in this section we explore different seed interactions – whether it’s searching for endangered flora in Kyrgyzstan, understanding how seeds are used to communicate with ancestors in Zimbabwe, discovering the world’s largest seed in the Seychelles, or exploring the structure and ways seeds disperse through the camera’s lens.

DIALOGUES

Our dialogues offer a range of ideas and different perspectives, including climate change activism in Africa, how death should be celebrated as a part of the food cycle, the water element, bringing climate change to our doorstep, the ecosystems that thrive above our heads, and drawing a garden in motion.

Product Dimensions: 240mm x 170mm

Pages: 128

In issue 3 of IFLA!, our writers and illustrators called for profound change. Now we begin to ask what that change, in all its complexity, might look like.

​To protect our environment, we must learn from all corners, disciplines and backgrounds. Luckily, from theatre to pollution, and architecture to waste, at IFLA! we’ve found no shortage of ideas.

Following a tumultuous 2018 for climate action, at IFLA! we've been thinking about profound change.

 In issue 2 we consider how best to prioritise Indigenous voices, redesign design questions and take a look at a long history of attempts to change the weather. We look at peat bogs and algae; cosmetics and tungsten bulbs, and untangle a few more strands of humanity's greatest challenge.