Flowers for Suzanne Clair
AR / VR / Video / Photography, 2019 > ongoingSuzanne Clair is a secondary character in The Crystal World, a disaster fiction novel written by J. G. Ballard in 1966. The story plays out before the backdrop of an apocalyptic mineralization process that is consuming the world, originating in the depths of the Earth's jungles and spreading outwards, turning everything in its path to crystal. The story is mostly told through the eyes of its protagonist, Edward Sanders, as he witnesses the doom unfolding in beautiful prose describing the chilling opulence of the destruction. SuzanneClair is a former lover of Sanders, and we encounter her through his lens as a tragic, lost soul. Rather than an ending Suzanne perceives the crystal as an opportunity for a different kind of life, and her optimistic view stands out awkwardly in contrast with Sanders and the other foreground figures. She seems like a naive, lonely victim.
Removed from this narrow context, Suzanne's ability to perceive the crisis as something other than an immediate existential threat, her willingness to engage with alternatives to doom, appears more interesting than the attitudes of the male counterparts who condescend her. It would have been interesting to see The Crystal World through Suzanne's eyes, to understand her as more than a prop character, and this nostalgia for a lost voice is the origin of the world of Flowers for Suzanne Clair. Production: Fabbula
