a note from the editor 07

by Ishan Benegal, Editor-in-Chief

Volume 07

direction | dimension | drive

A note from the editor

“Maybe I’m from everywhere and nowhere
No man’s land, between the trenches
Nothing grows there
But it’s fertilised by the brown bodies
Fought for you in the war
So when I spit a poppy grows there”
– Riz Ahmed

This is one of the questions and passages that lingers on as I revisit Riz Ahmed’s debut  album. I write debut because it is his first body of work stripped of his rap moniker Riz MC. A taking off of his mask, his persona, and leaving himself bare and open. It is something that feels even more relevant today than it did before.

For imprint, it prompts questions of “where are we going?” and “how are we getting there?”. Who are we taking along and, by that definition, who and what are we leaving behind? As we prepare for Season 2022-23, we also begin the second half of our second year of the magazine. We’re already looking to the second print edition and the third year. All the while, cognisant of where we began. Somedays that feels like yesterday; other days it feels like a lifetime and many performances, concerts, conversations ago.

Our focus has remained clear and in fact we have worked regularly to clarify it further. Our direction, perhaps unaffected by the reopening and reemergence of the world, but alas, I can’t say the same for what would be termed our drive. The quiet and contemplative time when we started the magazine feels a distant memory and the frenetic and electric nature of live shows has admittedly taken over. That was always going to happen. It was always going to affect the way we operated and the way our contributors worked and we as editors were able to function.

I use the words ‘editors’ and ‘edit’ with a bit of hesitation. Today, its weight feels a little bit darker and more ominous. To edit the past; to edit out voices that built what we see around us; to edit the past so we can create a new future; an edited dimension. So eerily the same and yet entirely different.

How does a small publication like ours working towards opposing ends survive past this national edit?
Or perhaps exactly for that reason?
Quietly; quixotically.

Presenting
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Volume 7.

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Related Pieces

G5A imprint presents its second print edition. This physical magazine is a selection of the work published, digitally, in Volumes 05 to 09. This Edition 2 of the magazine features selected pieces from our digital edition alongside some pieces exclusively for print.

Order Edion 2 Now
editor's note

Volume 10

contact | shadow | fringe

I’ve been reflecting on the theme for our tenth volume, a lovely milestone that coincides serendipitously with the warehouse’s tenth year, and how it feels apt for the moment we find ourselves in currently. The theme straddles a threshold. The movement from this side to the far side. It isn’t inherently accompanied by an emotion. And yet, I feel it suggests a sense of hopefulness. 

This isn’t in a vacuum but is influenced by two events that concern themselves with a tremendous threshold: our atmosphere and the expanse beyond it. I am referring to the successful flyby mission around the moon by the Artemis II and the release of the film “Project Hail Mary” (adapted from Andy Weir’s novel of the same name). These two events, coinciding in this manner, serve less as random happenstance and more as a reminder, as Carl Sagan said, “The Cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff.” A reminder that everything out there, is also everything in here. It serves as a reminder for hope that as we resume our exploration of the darkest depths of the universe, we must take that strength to step forward from our own personal shadows.

Shadows can be freeing. There is comfort in creating, expressing, and working without scrutiny or pressure or expectation. It has potential for great freedom, movement, and discovery. However, when the driving force isn’t exploration then it can be crippling and lead to paralysis. In those moments, “coincidental” events like these can be arresting and provide a sense of hope that the next step is all that matters. One step at a time soon becomes many past an imposing threshold. As we gather momentum, pressure is bound to build. It is here, with changed circumstances, that the intention must persevere. Learning the rules, allows the impact of breaking them to feel that much sweeter, but that isn’t necessary. Acting from pure instinct allows for an innate expression to present itself. It is balancing this, instinct versus experience, that proves vital to take experience into one’s stride with child-like instinct and intention.

Our focus, at imprint and G5A, on independent stories allows this freedom. It is something we work to preserve so that the experience of ten volumes and ten years, respectively, does not weigh us down but lifts us up through the shadows and into the expanse. This is not easy but it is simple. When you default to curiosity and wonder, it isn’t a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’.

We’re excited for Volume 10 and everything it will hold.