grafine.sextant

About me:

get the zine here

grafine sextant [a field guide for navigating the spheres] is a project centered around a small alternative press / DIY zine containing art, fiction, non-fiction, whatever. grafine sextant is a zine that straddles multiple realities, these alternate worlds leak through. printed in a place called the pacific northwest of the usa.

linktr.ee/grafine.sextant

grafine-sextant.github.io

What is "grafine sextant" and what is this all about?

Let's start with the second question there. Grafine sextant is a project, a string of messages transmitted along several mediums, the text you’re reading here being one of those transmissions.

Currently, the main information vector of grafine sextant is a "zine" (pronounced as in the latter half of "magazine") - a small alternative press / DIY pamphlet containing art, fiction, non-fiction, whatever. Grafine sextant is a zine that straddles multiple realities, these alternate worlds leak through and sometimes material makes it into the publication from these other realms. Some of what you may read in grafine sextant already happened, some of it never happened, some will happen, and some will never happen. Some of what you see in grafine sextant is artwork made in this world, the world you're currently reading this sentence in. Other artwork was received via multi-medium transmissions from parallel universes, parallel selves.

As the cover of the zine says, grafine sextant is a "field guide for navigating the spheres" and as such it is designed to provide useful information to the reader. Much of the navigation aid needed is not for orienting yourself in physical space, but rather to orient yourself within inner worlds of the mind, ideas, dreams, visions, delusions, nightmares, and hopes. See the introductory notes in issue #2 for an explanation of the "spheres" as encompassing physical spaces, metaphysical spaces, and metaphorical spaces. The intent behind these guides is to deconstruct illusions and barriers that mislead or separate, only after which can you truly find your way.

The illusions, barriers, and other subject matter covered within the pages are eclectic yet circled around some common themes: time and the future, ghosts and the past, technology and ecology, perception and knowledge, and much more that blurs the gaps in between. Recognizing that a thread of despair and melancholy runs through it all, we course correct with brief levity, often finding it in the absurdity or contradictions. Grafine sextant is not a doomer publication, but is meant to provide a clearer sight ahead.

Now the name, "grafine sextant" ... A sextant is a mechanical-optical instrument of ancient origin used for navigation. The device uses the sun, stars, distant landmarks, or fellow travelers, and is inscribed with wisdom of the heavens movements. Taking sight of celestial or terrestrial objects, rotating a lever arm or knob measures an angle. Pen, compass, and straightedge on a paper map complete the toolkit. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon, a single-layered hexagonally arranged latticework of atoms. The material finds its way into potential technologies yet to be developed, always ahead of us in time, potential never yet realized, vaporware specters - perhaps one day finding its way into navigational aids for this world and more - a graphene sextant. Grafine is a misspelling of the word, and "grafine sextant" on the front cover is a CAPTCHA, a (now obsolete) graphical Voight-Kampff.

Who I'd like to meet: