MANIFESTO—

‘these seedlings of stars
and these fields of blue!’

— Jean Cocteau

Where do stars come from? I wonder this astronomically, as in what causes the appearance of celestial bodies upon which we wish our wildest dreams? And I also ponder this question with respect to those individuals that burn brightest and help to lead the way. How are their seedlings sowed and in which ways do they begin to grow wild and free through the cracks?

So Chapter Four of JANE PRIVÉE is dedicated to the first in our future. Those early adopters germinating new ideas. And guiding the way, just as the constellations guide our way through the cosmos.

‘Forty million light-years from Earth, a galaxy starts to lose its shine as its gas and dust recede,’ writes NASA. ‘Without the star-making material, the galaxy will eventually fade.⁣ Stars are formed when immense clouds of gas and dust collapse under their gravitational attraction; as the cloud collapses, a dense hot core forms and begins to gather more material, which can become planets, asteroids, comets, or remain dust.⁣’ So what separates the stars from the dust?

As Georgian artist Rusudan Khizanishvili explains in conversation with Nina Mdivani this month, ‘stars and mountains are the symbols of our planet that existed before us and will exist after us.’ Khizanishvili believes that ‘stars are a symbol of our desires.’ And if this is the case, then what shape do your stars take?

Where does your creativity come from? By tapping into the wellspring of inspiration, we can begin to decipher the rugged terrain of our dreams. To dream out loud. To make like Jean Cocteau and imagine the moon as it is photographed by the sun. For you will find, he writes, that it is an ‘illuminating study’. One in which ‘each geographical half of the heart reveals its components in relief.’

With this in mind, Off Carte pens a love letter to the moon this month and Srna takes us into the Srnaverse with her Interpretive Interview. A creative expression that is fit for the stars. Soil and sky come before the lens for Chapter Four, too, as Coni Tarallo and Scott Shapiro transport us to Rockaway Beach, while Joel Benguigui invites us to pause in silence.

‘Try to paint your world as though you are the first man looking at it,’ Georgia O’Keefe reminds us. ‘The wind … and the cold – The dust – and the vast starlit night.'

So, as we stand on the threshold of a brand new season, we invite you to go stargazing. To seek out the meteors that are blazing through the atmosphere—without and within—as you plant the seed for a bright future and let it illuminate the way.

For we are all just stardust.

Rosie Dalton

MASTHEAD

editors-in-chief and creative directors
Annika Hein and Odin Wilde

online editor
Rosie Dalton

production and publishing
The Grey Attic

contributing writers and poets
Annika Hein, Nina Mdivani, Off Carte, Rosie Dalton, Srna Vuckovic

contributing artists and image makers 
Annika Hein, Billie Iveson, Catharina Pavitschitz, Coni Tarallo, Faustine Martin, Ilkin Kurt,
Jerico Tracy, Joel Benguigui, Odin Wilde, Rosie Dalton, Rusudan Khizanishvili,
Scott Shapiro, Sophie Brockwell, Teneille Sorgiovanni, Vert Creations

on the cover
photographer and stylist isabel sasse
model abigail o’neil, silver fox management

JANE acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn, and work, and we pay respect to their Elders past, present, and emerging.
We recognise their continuing cultural and spiritual connection to land and waters, and we commit to working to honour this connection.
This country was never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

© 2022 JANE by The Grey Attic, the authors, artists, and photographers. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher.