Sure, it’s all well and good to hear what the editor has to say about the year that’s passed but what really matters is what the community has to say. I’ve emailed about, edited, sourced images for, commissioned, posted on social media, and sometimes even written the work posted on bad apple. So, I may be a little close to the work.
This year, in addition to my review of the year, I asked a bunch of the extended bad apple family about a piece that stood out to them and why.
Fun Home — A Response by Liz Breslin
Selected by Nathan Joe
While, I wasn’t especially blown away by the Court Theatre’s production of Fun Home, I liked the play enough and thought the staging had real moments of beauty. Where I found it most successful was in the unexpected resonances and recognition of my own experiences growing up in Ōtautahi. But Liz’s response is the thing that made me wanna see it.
Sometimes one is hunting for robust analytical theatre criticism, other times one wants to be subsumed in feeling. Her response offers a deeply personal lens in a gift, the alchemy of a writer’s voice meeting an artwork.
In an age where everyone’s a critic and has a hot take, thoughtful and honest writing about art is rare. More please!
BALDH3AD! / Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou by Isla Huia
Selected by essa may ranapiri
Isla Huia’s “BALDH3AD! / Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou” is my highlight of badapple for this year! I’m always prattling about how good Isla’s work is so well here I am again. In her ekphrasis to Theia’s rebellious waiata “BALDH3EAD!”, Isla draws on themes of resistance and makes them sing in a way only she can. “clamp down on the hairless men / who’ve chased the wild geese // into some kind of / native aquarium, we’re not // going to swim for you.”, this is the way she starts her poem and characteristic of her style she uses the line break to keep you guessing. It’s rare to feel fully in the present these days but when I’m reading this poem everything folds into a single glorious “fuck you!” to all those that would try and take what we have.
‘PEER REVIEW’ by Liz Breslin
Selected by Josiah Morgan
Liz Breslin, one of Aotearoa’s finest working poets, applies her extraordinary, radical, investigative voice to a show from Dunedin Fringe. I’m a huge believer in the idea that reviews of other people’s work should be extensions of our own practice, part of our own body of work—this review by Breslin feels like it could be part of her next book, it’s *that* good.
‘The Cyborg Manifucksto’ by Alexandra ‘Sascha’ Stronach
Selected by Van Mei
My favourite piece published on bad apple in 2024 has got to be Sascha Stronach’s ‘Cyborg Manifucksto’. Her writing is so damn delightful, and the sentences and subject matter took me on a horny, transformational adventure. I wasn’t sure how to get off the roller coaster ( ) or even if I wanted to. The writing and imagery took me someplace else entirely than where I expected to be led, and is so witty and imaginative, testament to her penmanship. She’s that girl for sure!
‘On Learning to Edit and Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo’ by Josiah Morgan
Selected by Claudia Jardine
*editor’s note* Claudia was sick when I asked for her piece so she sent me this screenshot exchange between her and Josiah as her contribution.
‘manual focus’ by kī anthony
selected by Zia Ravenscroft
This essay was published ten days into January and it has stuck with me all year. I’ve always thought photos often reveal more about the photographer than they do about the subject, and this is a moving exploration of the camera as the self.’
That’s all we’ve got! Folks have been busy enjoying their holidays so we’ll leave them be. If you’d like to send in your favourite piece to be added or would like to share something on one of the above pieces, send an email to damien@badapple.gay.
