“I nailed a croissant to my bedroom wall as a reminder to keep smiling”: a series of texts by Ulijona Odišarija

, 25 January 2018
focus

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It’s strange to carry a bottle of water in the rain. I’m wondering whether I should be thirsty when it’s raining. 

Ulijona Odišarija, ‘Don’t Chime’ (2016) Courtesy the artist.

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I nailed a croissant to my bedroom wall as a reminder to keep smiling. Croissant seems like such a sincere and uplifting pastry.

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the bed couldn’t breathe

The bed couldn’t breathe because it was made of cheap materials. The situation got worse when it wasn’t slept in anymore and the trees outside the window grew tall and blocked the sunlight. Fungus grew in the bed and the whole family had to take it apart in the garden. They’re all tired now.

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writing long stories

this story is too long
for short fingers
I will tell you when we meet 

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the trees are wet

the trees are wet
that end of winter feeling
came too early
maybe every mother is also their child’s child

Ulijona Odišarija, ‘Swan on a cappuccino (with Sarah Boulton)’ (2017) Courtesy the artists.

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why

why am I so stupid
I always think that I am right
when I am wrong

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I came to see you

I came all this way
to see you
with a leaf stuck to my shoe
And a fire under my ass

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are we talking or are we exchanging efforts

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Ulijona Odišarija, ‘Dove’ (2014) Courtesy the artist.

memory exercise 2

I don’t have a technique. Sometimes I try to remember what I’m wearing without looking.

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when someone asks the two friends if they are sisters, one is always pleased and the other one annoyed.

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on a wet november evening a woman is cycling in shorts, her pale legs lighting the way like torches.
on a wet november evening a woman is standing in a halo of her perfume smiling and saying “no, no-ho-ho”.
on a wet november evening a shorter woman is holding a taller woman by the shoulders repeating “it isn’t it isn’t it isn’t”

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Courtesy Ulijona Odišarija

I hear it in my head
But in her voice
I’m just a freakin special person
I’m just a freakin special person

I’ve done so much for love
and je ne regrette rien, I don’t

Let’s do it even if we can’t
I guess I’m just a special person
I will drink this glass of water
And end up somewhere else

That duck goes tap tap tap
On the wet ground

See you, so on**

 

 

 

Ulijona Odišarija is a Lithuanian-Georgian artist living and working in London. She graduated from MFA in Fine Art Media at Slade School of Fine Art in 2016. She is a part of East Anglia Records (EAR) and the band Steve and Samantha who just released their first single ‘Lower Your Shorts.’ See more of Ulijona’s work here.