Handbook of Everyday Magic during the Month of May 1973
Every morning of the month of May 1973, I write down my first name Annette in black ink and I quickly fold the paper in fours onto my name. I try to discover how my day will turn out through the stain that formed when I unfolded the sheet of paper.
Tuesday 1 May
Today there is something hanging over me - my name is illegible - like a large dark mass, a bird perhaps. I shouldn't board a plane, I shouldn't walk along pavements.
Wednesday 2 May
Today will be a happy uneventful day. I can feel confident, no enemies.
Thursday 3 May
Today something or someone new will enter my life. At the top in the centre, a bizarre form. It may be the telephone, it looks like it. News for me.
Friday 4 May
Today the thing at the top: the telephone. Bad news: dark perspectives.
Saturday 5 May
Today, the upside-down bird, the telephone, or the mailman. Good news? Not exactly. 4 horns at the top, 2 ears at the two ends: I don't really understand: beware of everything.
Sunday 6 May
Today I have to wash my hair. This figure with the dark black eyes and the very elaborate hair is me. I have to put on make-up and take good physical care of myself or else my brain, my head will burst. Bad and dark thoughts. Vacant and joyless gaze.
Monday 7 May
This stain represents my father's brown jacket, he is calling me. The 2 spots on each side tell me that nothing else but this matters today.
(Annette Messager, Handbook of Everyday Magic during the month of May 1973. Reprinted in The Everyday, 2008, Whitechapel Press.)
Bomb Interview with Messanger
