Agnès Varda Forever

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  Agnès Varda Forever

  Laura Glazer and Jennifer "JJ" Jones

  As part of an assignment from artist Harrell Fletcher for the Portland State University Art and Social Practice MFA Program, Laura Glazer commissioned Jennifer “JJ” Jones to continue her “Agnès Varda Forever” project. The project began in the summer of 2020 after JJ and her son watched a marathon of movies directed by Agnès Varda during the Covid-19 stay-at-home order. As a result, they wanted more people to know about Varda. JJ acted on this desire in October by painting “AGNÈS VARDA FOREVER” in eight-inch high letters on the utility pole at the end of her block. Around that time, Laura drove past this bold message and was delighted by its spirit, not realizing that it was JJ’s neighborhood or her handiwork. She was so excited about the sign and its striking letterforms that she emailed JJ about it later that night. (Laura knew JJ was a fan of Varda’s movies because a few years ago they saw each other at a Hollywood Theatre showing of Varda’s film, Faces Places.) JJ replied to Laura’s email: “One night, when I couldn’t sleep, I went down to the corner of MY STREET and painted that pole!!!!! What is incredible is that YOU saw it! I thought about sending you a picture of it, but then thought that a better thing to do would be to someday go and paint it on something near your apartment, so you could accidentally stumble upon it! This is SO magical, that it worked out this way. My heart and my mind are blown!!!” As part of her class assignment in April 2021, Laura received $100 to commission someone to do anything.1 She offered it to JJ and together they designed a poster with the “AGNÈS VARDA FOREVER” message and removable tabs listing movies directed by Varda and a short description of each movie. JJ bought colored paper to print the poster and perforated the lower portion of the poster, making tab removal easier. Then she cut each tab by hand and anonymously hung over 500 of them on poles in Portland and beyond. JJ’s hope was that people would take a tab from the poster and use it as a reminder to find out more about Varda and then watch the film.