Sirin Air

Jennifer Turpin

Interview by L. Valena

October 31, 2022

Can you start by describing the prompt that you responded to?

It was a cyanotype with hand-drawn birds and words. In the center, there was a little yellow circle that was kind of sun-reminiscent. It was a lot of words about travel and movement.

What were your first reactions or thoughts?

When I got it, and was just kind of sitting with it, the word 'migrate' kept coming to me. Migrate, emigrate, and move. Not necessarily traveling for vacation, but for growing roots.

Where did you go from there?

From there, I started writing poetry-adjacent stuff thinking about migration, emigration and immigration, and incorporating that with breath and energy. Other words meant to move, and integrating those into the words I was putting down on paper. In my own practice, I've been exploring the energy of the Sirin, so it was hard not to see that when I got these birds coming through.

Oh that's cool, so that's been something you've been exploring in your other work? 

Yeah. So much in mythology is about women as villains. Medusa: the villain, and the Sirin: the villain. They're just doing their thing, breathing, existing. The Sirins are on their island, singing, existing and getting blamed for destruction and demise yet they're not the ones seeking out sailors. I feel like there's a lot of misunderstanding and misrepresentation. 

The strength and beauty of them is something that keeps coming up, and also being misunderstood for doing what comes natural.

I've been thinking a lot lately about that idea of good and evil. It's so human to want to ascribe those qualities to things, and we must have evolved that need. It must be necessary to our survival as a species. It doesn't really exist out there in the rest of the natural world. There's just plants and animals doing what they do, there are no 'bad guys', so what is it about our species that requires that?

When I first went to college and studied psychology, I remember being taught that most people believe that all people are either inherently good, or inherently evil, and you learn the opposite, whichever camp you're from. Needing to come to terms with how someone can do something that you perceive as being awful or heinous. I see that, but then I also see how in the rest of the natural world, it's all about survival.

Can you say more about the process you used to create this piece?

I'm curious if it was because of the cyanotype, but for some reason the linocut seemed like where I needed to go. My initial intent was to keep those words I wrote down in the piece, and have them kind of behind, whether handwritten in before the print or after the print. I enjoy carving in general, especially wood and stone. I don't love making block prints, but for some reason that's what I wanted for this.

So this isn't a go-to method for you.

It's a once in a while, when the project calls for it -type of thing. I've done some wearable zines. Embroidery takes a long time, but when you use block printing you can make like a dozen zines in the time it would take to make one page. It's not one of my first loves, for sure.

Wearable zines? That sounds cool. Tell me more about that.

I had the idea to focus on the work of Jane Goodall because she is one of the amazing humans of the world that I gravitate towards. I have this series called "What's Mine is Mine," which is against poaching, and I was trying to figure out where to take it next, and went back to some of her books. I took some of the illustrations from her books and made them into little pages that could be an infinity scarf, but if you took it off and folded it properly it's kind of like a children's cloth-bound book. I then transitioned into making wearable zines with information about different species of rhino and elephants, and the effect that poachers have had on those populations.

Awesome. And how about the Sirin? Is that something you've been kind of ruminating on, or have you explored it in other work?

Definitely explored it in other artworks. I made a stone carving of one, which initially came from ideas about feminism. Thinking back about different relationships and narratives and an encounter with someone I knew through school who made a mean joke then said "You used to be fun," when I didn't laugh "No, I just used to not speak up when you'd say something really awful." That's where some of the Sirin energy was coming from. Being silent and "fun", versus speaking up for what feels right, being authentic. It started with a quick embroidered outline piece, and then I did a series of paintings which were less Greek-inspired, drawing from Slavic lore of Alkonost and Gamayun, songs of joy and sadness, and bringing in some bright reds and teals.  White eyes and no pupils. I think she's been the most recent development.

For me and I think for a lot of folks, it can be hard to be a little more raw and put more of that personal stuff out there, or even just explain the reasons why, instead of just letting it be. She is a good vessel for being a little more vulnerable, and processing because she's symbolic of a lot of peoples’ experiences, including my own.

Do you have any idea if you're going to continue with this theme and where you'll go next?

I'm not sure where to go next. I have a few more pieces of stone, and one of them I can see becoming another Sirin. It's a piece of white alabaster. I see some wings in there, but I have to wonder, how is it different from an angel? I think I'm learning from experience that when I have these plans and steps I want to take, it tends to go on the back burner. So I’m trying to be a little more present with it, and when she wants to come out, let her come out.

What haven't we talked about yet? If you were interviewing yourself right now, what question would you ask next?

I guess I would ask about plans for the linocut. It exists now. We all have our bad art days, or bad print days, when the medium just isn't working. With this piece, I did three different print days, and I had two bad ones and one good one… until my cat interjected herself with her little tiny pink paw pads right across the ink. So I have these amazing prints with little cat paw prints, which also went all over on the laundry, and everywhere. I want to do a reprint, and I'd love to do some explorations with the words behind. I do want to see if I can make that happen.

You've now done this two times. Do you have any advice for another artist approaching this project for the first time?

The second time was definitely easier. The first time, even though I knew it was a call-and-response, chain-letter kind of idea and that there were no rules, I still was really worried about what was expected. But this time, it was easier to just go with it, and know that whatever pops up, pops up. There will be a tie-in somehow. Just allowing it to happen was so much more fun than when I had all of those shoulds.

Call Number: Y89VA | Y93VA.tuSi

Jennifer Turpin is a mixed media artist who uses the arts to connect with their subject. Whether working in the abstract to process thoughts, feelings, and ideas, or working in realism creating portraits that show curiosity, love, and admiration. Each stroke, stitch or sound is an opportunity to dive deeper into each composition. Jennifer hopes that others find a small piece of themselves in her work too. When not creating art Jennifer is making music or hanging with her Loves, husband Adam and cats Lizzy and Bigsby.