Out of the Silence, Speculation: The Art of Bonnie McLaughlin

'Sometimes it is enough to want to listen. I will give you that much credit.'

SHE RUNS SILENT BUT DEEP, exploring in texts both written and visual a personal mythology that drew The Sister Project’s sisters in and hasn’t let us go. The idea that deeply contemplative Bonnie McLaughlin, just 25, exerts that kind of magnetic effect would not surprise her younger brother, Seth, who early on named his sister G.G.D., or Genius Girl of Destiny, which sounds to us like a female superhero if there ever was one. “I was always a very quiet, introspective person, spending so much time observing, that I often forgot to speak,” says Bonnie. “This led me to endless creative pursuits.”

Bonnie McLaughlin, who graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in illustration and creative writing, is also known around the internets as Xylembonn—the suffix’ source being obvious, but what about that botanical prefix, please?

Did Bonnie name her blog and Flickr photostream for the complex vascular tissue in higher plants that conducts life-sustaining fluid, or for the solidity of wood that it typically has? As with her art, we do not know if we really need to know just why; the curiosity it prompts in us, with the odd hints and brainy references, is plenty. Bonnie, a thinker herself, makes us think. Her RIT professors concur.

At RIT, says Bonnie, “fairytales and myth-making” inspired much of her work, which she also says is “born out of an exploration of female identity.” “I absolutely loved to spend long hours reading library books,” she adds, “scribbling in my notebook, and experimenting with various media. In critiques I was often known for providing the most unusual interpretation of assignments, while my professors commended me for ‘personal vision.’ Yet I also had a lot of unarticulated ideas and desires related to non-visual creativity—particularly writing and travel.”

'The Edge of Belief'

Bonnie is also a wanderer, a nomadic soul who must explore. Since 2005 she has lived in Berkeley and Brooklyn, Wyoming and Washington, backpacked solo across Europe, visited Finland and Russia and even Japan. “I strongly believe these moments of pause and consideration feed back into my relationships and into my work,” she says.

From the Europe trip, “what stood out most was Poland, and in particular, Auschwitz. I think this is because a lot of my creative work does hint at the presence of a dark side. To stand on the site of so much suffering and needless pain, to look at it and confront it and say here it is, was very significant for me.

“Eventually I settled into a little intentional community in the middle of a Dutch apple orchard. This was a completely new experience for me, like a very large family. I mostly hung back and observed, but it left a lasting impression nonetheless.”

Lately, Bonnie says, she has been exploring “the American front.” She worked at a ranch in Wyoming, and is “on an extended stay in Seattle,” where Seth, an engineer at Microsoft, also lives. Some of her current goals: getting a letterpress/bookarts residency (following up on a stint at the Center for Book Arts in New York, where she volunteered and learned letterpress); completing the two children’s books she has in rough stages, drafting a novel in verse for teen girls, launching a greeting card line…and the list continues. We think we will be hearing more from and about the Genius Girl of Destiny. First, let’s hear more about her experience with sisterhood.

THE TSP INTERVIEW WITH BONNIE MCLAUGHLIN

Q. You know you’re a sister when…

A. “You decide to be one.”

Q. What is your best of/worst of experience with sisterhood?

A. “I always loved having a brother, especially when he would call me G.G.D.—Genius Girl of Destiny! Seth is slightly younger than me, less than two years, and we had a lot of fun together…the main drawback being my assignment as his personal chef. Luckily his tastes were simple, like pasta and Oreo milkshakes. Once we hit college, he began to make up for this, by grilling me salmon or taking me out to eat….

A painter from an early age.

“We grew up in rural Maine and ended up going to college together. This was a complete coincidence (he skipped his last year of high school, I had decided to transfer for my sophomore year, and before we knew it we were both headed to RIT for the first time, where we spent three years together), but we’re both glad it worked out that way….Our lives have been quite different, as he is very professional and I am somewhat of a hippie.”

Q. Are there pop-culture or other cultural references that make you think of your sibling or the subject of sisterhood?

A. “I am most passionate about books, especially those with a unique vantage point or writing style. A few that have most influenced my creative work include Dictee by Teresa Hak Kyung Cha, Obasan by Joy Kogawa, and The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Thi Diem Thuy Le. Each is focused on the story of an individual woman and her relationships. All three face challenging times, yet one way or another survive.

“Their sober themes contrast with The Trouble With Angels, an old movie I first watched with my mom in third grade, and continue to watch on occasions when I need a bit of sisterly amusement.”

Q. What does the word ’sister’ mean to you?

A. “For some reason I have always thought, ‘He’s my brother,’ not, ‘I’m his sister.’ I know I can count on him, along with my closest female friends. But really I think the word could be valuable in a wider social context, if we could get past the cliché and focus on authentic interaction with others.”

Q. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from your sister experience?

Bonnie's 'Shadow Hands' reach out to whom?

A. “That my sisters do exist. I am a quiet person, and tend to hesitate before reaching out to others. Yet at just the right times, people will appear to offer the encouragement or advice or support that I need. It is my hope that I can continue to pass this on to others.”

A GALLERY OF BONNIE MCLAUGHLIN’S WORK

“My work was born out of an exploration of female identity,” says Bonnie, “how that is formed in childhood, influenced by fairytales and other forms of personal mythmaking, and then communicated to the outside world. I have attempted to isolate these moments in the same way a strobe light captures the exact shape of a splashing drop. Each pattern is intricate and varied. I want the viewer to pause and engage in reflection.”

See for yourselves, and sample more of it at her blog, and on her Flickr photostream, where her numerous photographic travelogues are also housed.