Erasure (artform)
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Erasure poetry, or blackout poetry, is a form of
found poetry Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them (a literary equivalent of a collage) by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus ...
or
found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...
art created by erasing words from an existing text in
prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
or
verse Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse (poetry), a line or lines in a poetic composition * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict meter or rhyme, but still re ...
and framing the result on the page as a
poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
. The results can be allowed to stand ''
in situ is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...
'' or they can be arranged into lines and/or
stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...
s. Writers and visual artists have adopted this form both to achieve a range of cognitive or symbolic effects and to focus on the social or political meanings of erasure. Erasure is a way to give an existing piece of writing a new set of meanings, questions, or suggestions. It lessens the trace of authorship but also draws attention to the original text.


History

Doris Cross Doris may refer to: People and fictional characters * Doris (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters * Doris (surname), a list of people * Doris (singer), stage name of Swedish rock and pop singer Doris Svensson (19 ...
appears to have been among the earliest to utilize this technique, beginning in 1965 with her "Dictionary Columns" book art. Other examples before 1980 include: *''
A Humument ''A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel'' is an altered book by British artist Tom Phillips, published in its first edition in 1970 and completed in 2016. It is a piece of art created over W. H. Mallock's 1892 novel ''A Human Document'' wh ...
,'' Tom Phillips' 1970 major work of
book art Book Art is a field of art that involves the creation of works that use or refer to the structural and conceptual properties of books. The term is also used to describe works of art produced in this field. These works may contain text, images, or bo ...
and
found poetry Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them (a literary equivalent of a collage) by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus ...
deconstructed from a Victorian novel. *''Radi Os'', Ronald Johnson's, long 1977 poem deconstructed from the text of Milton's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
''. *''Mans Wows'' –
Jesse Glass Jesse Glass (born 1954) is an American expatriate poet, artist and folklorist. In America Glass first began to write and publish experimental poetry in c. 1972. Starting in 1976, he edited and published the mimeographed ''Goethe’s Notes Magazi ...
' ''Mans Wows'' (1981), is a series of poems and performance pieces mined from
John George Hohman Johann Georg Hohman (also spelled John George Hohman, and his surname sometimes misspelled as Hoffman) was a German-American printer, book seller and compiler of collections of herbal remedies, magical healings, and charms. He immigrated to t ...
's book of charms and healings ''Pow Wows, or The Long Lost Friend''. Modern Poet Alicia Cook is known for redacting her own poetry to create new works. Since 2016, she has published three poetry collections, each featuring 92 original poems alongside their blackout poetry counterparts. The poetic form gained new political purpose online in 2017 in response to the Trump administration. The tradition of
concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...
and the works of visual artists such as d.a. levy have some relationship to this artform.


Use in representations of political or social themes


Government and military secrecy

Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick, New York. Her work focuses on the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, projectio ...
's ''Redaction Paintings'' consists of enlarged, colorized silkscreen "paintings" of declassified and often heavily censored American military and intelligence documents that have recently been made available to the public through the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...
. The works are intended as reminders of the editing or erasure that goes on behind the scenes in the American military/political power system. Documents address
counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...
,
prisoner abuse Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated. Prisoner abuse can include physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, torture, or other acts such as refusal of essential medication, and it can ...
, and the threat of
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
. Some of the documents are almost completely inked out, like
Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...
's memo on Defense Intelligence Agency reorganization. Anthropologist Michael Powell writes: "While the literal act of redaction attempts to extract information and eradicate meaning, the black marker actually transforms the way we read these documents, sparking curiosity and often stirring skeptical, critical, and even cynical readings. As redacted government documents make their way from government bureaus into the hands of citizens, a peculiar transformation seems to take place, one that seems to create a paranoia within reason." ''Seven Testimonies (redacted)'' –
Nick Flynn Nick Flynn (born January 26, 1960) is an American writer, playwright, and poet. Life and career Nick Flynn was raised by his mother in Scituate, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Flynn had no contact with his father throughout most of his chil ...
's "Seven Testimonies (redacted)" in ''The Captain Asks a Show of Hands'', is an erasure of the testimonies from prisoners at
Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib ( or ; ) is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghra ...
.


Holocaust

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels '' Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works '' Eat ...
's 2010 ''
Tree of Codes ''Tree of Codes'' is an artwork, in the form of a book, created by Jonathan Safran Foer, and published in 2010. To create the book, Foer took Bruno Schulz's book ''The Street of Crocodiles'' and cut out the majority of the words. The publisher, ...
'' is a book-length erasure of ''
The Street of Crocodiles ''The Street of Crocodiles'', also known as ''The Cinnamon Shops'' (, ), is a 1934 collection of short stories written by Bruno Schulz. First published in Polish, the collection was translated into English by in 1963. Origins and publication S ...
'' by
Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz (12 July 1892 – 19 November 1942) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish writer, fine artist, Literary criticism, literary critic and Art education, art teacher. He is regarded as one of the great Polish (language), Po ...
. Schulz was killed by an officer of the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
during the Nazi occupation of his hometown
Drohobycz Drohobych ( ; ; ) is a city in the south of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 1939–1941 and 1944–1959 it was ...
, after distributing the bulk of his life's work to gentile friends immediately prior to the occupation. All of these manuscripts have been lost. ''The Tree of Codes'' is Safran-Foer's attempt to represent the unrepresentable loss which occurred in the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
by deleting text, rather than by writing another book about the Holocaust as a historical subject or context for a work of fiction. Safran-Foer's approach to the Holocaust as an "unrepresentable subject" recalls the use of negative space in the poetry of Dan Pagis.


Freedom and Slavery

Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith has written several erasure poems, including "Declaration" (drawn from the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...
) and "The Greatest Personal Privation" (from letters about slaveholding). Poet
Nicole Sealey Nicole Sealey (born 1979) is an American poet who was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and raised in Apopka, Florida, US. She is the former executive director of Cave Canem Foundation. She won the 2015 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize for ...
wrote ''The Ferguson Report: An Erasure'', a book length erasure of the Ferguson Report which comments on the
Killing of Michael Brown On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old male friend Dorian Johnson. Wilson, a white male Fergu ...
and the subsequent
Ferguson unrest The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) was a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal Killing of Michael Brown, ...
. Her poem "Pages 22–29, an excerpt from the book, won a
Forward Prize for Poetry The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...
in October 2021.


Indigenous erasure poetry

Poets such as
Jordan Abel Jordan Abel is an academic and poet who lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is an associate professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. Early life and education Abel was born Vancouver, British Columbia to a Nisg ...
and
Billy-Ray Belcourt Billy-Ray Belcourt is a poet, scholar, and author from the Driftpile Cree Nation. Belcourt's works encompass a variety of topics and themes, including decolonial love, grief, intimacy and queer sexuality, and the role of Indigenous women in so ...
have engaged in erasure poetry to mirror the erasure of Indigenous peoples from history. Through working to erase existing texts such as
Treaty 8 Treaty 8, which concluded with the June 21, 1899, signing by representatives of the Crown and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area, is the most comprehensive of the eleven Numbered Treaties. The agreement encompassed a land m ...
in "NDN Coping Mechanisms" by Billy-Ray Belcourt and "Totem Poles" by Canadian ethnographer
Marius Barbeau Charles Marius Barbeau, (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadians, Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthr ...
in "The Place of Scraps" by Jordan Abel these two poets "make and unmake texts" the way Indigenous histories have been made and unmade by colonialist influences.


See also

*
Concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...
*
Frankenstein veto A Frankenstein veto occurs when an American state governor selectively deletes words from a bill, stitching together the remainder (''à la'' Victor Frankenstein) to form a new bill different from that passed by the legislature. The practice aris ...


Notes


External links


Collection of erasure poems at Poets.org

The Complete Man's Wows by Jesse Glass
{{Authority control Genres of poetry Poetic devices