18/11/2024
It’s release day for Troy Cabida () and his brilliant new pamphlet ‘Symmetric of Bone: poems after Elsa Peretti’ and to celebrate, we asked Troy to tell us about his inspirations for the poems. Read his thoughts below and grab a copy of the book via the link in bio!
“My research for Symmetric of Bone led me to books and articles about Elsa Peretti’s design process from the British Museum, the National Art Library, the New York Times, and Vogue.
Photographs from artists such as Colita, Ralph Rucci, and Alvaro Bujons show how she lived and collaborated, and how others responded to her work.
Here, (slide 3) we have a photograph by Fred W. McDarrah of New York Pride 1975, featuring a participant wearing the Bottle pendant as part of their ensemble, telling me one of the many ways in which q***r bodies have found strength and individuality through Elsa’s jewels.
An editorial shot (slide 2) by Andrew Jacobs for WSJ Magazine features Peretti homeware comfortable at work, the beauty of the everyday and necessary.
There’s, of course, a mirror selfie of myself (slide 4) in my winter uniform: a turtleneck, suit trousers, and leather boots, punctuated in Peretti silver I wear so often a Tiffany sales associate once said they now house “my soul, my essence”.
Elsa herself is also present here, from a photograph (slide 1) from 1975 by Helmut Newton and another (slide 5) from 1996 by Martyn Thompson for British Vogue. Though from different stages of her life, both images show Peretti at one with her jewellery: exuding a balance of otherworldly glamour and inherent groundedness that perhaps Elsa wanted us all to feel when in physical contact with her creations.“
