Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Mona's Tent



Agnes Varda's Sans toi ni loi (1985) translates as "with neither shelter nor law" in English but is called Vagabond for short. The story begins with the death of Mona, a drifter (as we once called them), followed by her ocean re-birth and what might be crudely described as the events leading up to her death.

The picture above is of Mona's tent, which she pitched the night before. A man walks by and asks

"Anyone in there?"

"Yeah, I'm sleeping," replies Mona.

"Know where you are?"

"No, I got here at night."

"It's a graveyard. Can't stay here."

And it's true -- Mona can't stay here, ever. Why? Because her death is forever followed by her re-birth. Is this immortality? No, it is her nature -- to prefer not to, as Melville once wrote (of Bartleby).

But that's not the pattern I am interested in. The pattern I am interested in is the one on Mona's tent. A non-patterned pattern!

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