Event Type
This reading will be a preview of LMNL Art’s first-ever anthology that will be published May 2024. The anthology series aims to platform New Orleans multi-genre writers, while celebrating our community’s representational diversity and creative pursuits. LMNL Arts Anthology Vol. 1 contains a curated collection of the best written works that have been presented at various LMNL events during 2023.
This year (and every subsequent year) the LMNL Arts team has picked one word that best describes the selected works in the anthology. This word is the overarching theme of the volume and determines the design direction of the book. For LMNL Arts Anthology Vol. 1, that word is “flow.”
The LMNL space is where creation takes place. It is a state of flow. Popularized by psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura, flow state describes a feeling where, under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing. The flow state is generally less common during periods of relaxation and makes itself present during challenging and engaging activities. On the subject, Csikszentmihalyi once claimed, “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… the best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” Though anyone can achieve flow, writers are particularly familiar with this state of being.
Being in flow is often misconstrued as a smooth and fluid process. However, this mental state is, more often than not, anything but. The creative process, even during flow state, is messy, torturous, and exhausting, because the brain functions at full-capacity while in flow. For instance, writers process up to 120 bits of information a second while in flow. Writers rapid-fire through multiple courses of action, over and over again, for long and short periods of time, in a chaotic, non-linear cycle that eventually leads to a creation.
LMNL Anthology Vol. 1 aims to manifest the creative process during flow state in a realistic way. Graphic elements are imperfect and sketchy. Imagery is applied to the page in a rough, collage-like manner reminiscent of fast-making. The whole book is printed using a risograph, a printing method known for having imperfect registration, smudging, and uneven coverage. These design quirks reinforce and embrace the unpredictable nature of being in flow, while celebrating the creations that are born of it.