Refract: An Open Access Visual Studies Journal

Authoritative Forms is a participatory poem-object that invites playing and reordering of how formal entities shape and construct our belief systems and assert authority on our ways of being. The work comprises a sheaf of handmade watermarked abaca and cotton paper arranged on a handmade wood table surrounded by work stools. Viewers are invited to take a seat at the table to handle, look at, read, and rearrange the papers. With material, language, and participation, Authoritative Forms aims to play with and interrogate how we individually and collectively create and confer meaning.