AS A platform for fresh and unseen pieces of writing, fragments of artworks, loose experiments, and literary digressions, local press Exploding Galaxies’ newly launched journal e.g. aims to fill a gap.
The works featured in it span early iterations that would otherwise not be accepted in other publications.
Edited by Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz and designed by Kristian Henson, the first issue features contributions by award-winning author Glenn Diaz and contemporary visual artist Lesley-Anne Cao. It contains the first two draft chapters of Mr. Diaz’s novel, Yñiga, which went on to win Best Novel in English at the 2024 National Book Awards, and various sketches from Ms. Cao’s practice, which explores the interplay of materiality, language, and artmaking.
Given the journal’s focus on off-cut fragments of literary and artistic work, its design and typography are similarly loose, tactile, and analog.
For its editor, showcasing remnants of the creative process as well as finished products is a natural way for Exploding Galaxies to revive overlooked works.
“If there’s no contemporary reinvestment of meaning into a work, it dies whether it remains in print or not,” Ms. CuUnjieng Aboitiz said at e.g. journal’s launch on Jan. 25, held at Everything’s Fine bookstore in Makati City.
Having republished two out-of-print novels so far, Exploding Galaxies hopes to “help amplify the larger discourse in which these works are situated,” she told BusinessWorld.
The journey of making e.g. started last July, according to publisher Mara Coson. “There’s a huge pool to choose from when it comes to writers and artists who can provide drafts and iterations of their work, but we thought to start with one text and one illustration,” she said.
THE VALUE OF THE PROCESSAt the launch, the team highlighted that e.g. is for works that are “fascinating but too focused, miscellaneous, extraneous, or experimental to incorporate into anything larger.”
This would include anything like “a research tangent on the history of ylang-ylang perfume that could inform part of a larger argument, short stanzas or scenes or variations on openings regretfully cut, as well as forays into new formats explored just to see where they may lead,” said Ms. CuUnjieng Aboitiz.
Pairing these offcuts of prose and poetry with visual art and sketches allows for a conversation to form.
Glenn Diaz, whose first three chapters of Yñiga, as well as its false start, were read out loud at the launch, admitted that it will only be interesting to a certain number of people.
“It’s interesting to me, though,” he told BusinessWorld. “I think the value of it is that there might be lessons in terms of how we look at the not-so-final, the not-so-perfect. It’s often an unnecessary judgment that we give to ourselves.”
Ms. CuUnjieng Aboitiz added that Ms. Cao, who was unable to attend the launch, also had similar reflections on “the process of pruning and sketching and thinking,” in contrast to her polished finished work.
“Pruning back to allow for a clear narrative to emerge is part of the process, enabling others to see this world newly shaped outside of your own cacophony, outside of your own imagination,” she said.
Limited editions of the print issues of e.g. are available at Everything’s Fine bookstore at Prince Tower, Tordesillas St., Salcedo Village, Makati City. Digital issues will be available soon via www.explodinggalaxies.com. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
