HHUUGG - msdm [mobile strategies of display & mediation] publications is a house-studio-gallery founded by paula roush

TITLE: HHUUGG
PHOTOGRAPHY: paula roush
PERFORMANCE: hḗrā santos
MEDIUM: Laser prints on corona offset paper

Once a week, like a ritual regularly enacted to keep a friendship alive, hḗrā visits me in the studio. They always bring a selection of clothes -found, vintage, and new- from their personal archive. Things collected here and there, like a prayer skirt from Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a Charles Jeffrey Loverboy kilt, or a pair of Tabi boots from a collaboration between Maison Margiela and Dover Street Market.

When dressed up and ready for a shoot, we drift around the three-storey building, looking for inspiration. For HHUUGG1, we grabbed a bunch of wildflowers just harvested from the neighbouring park. For HHUUGG2, we followed a ray of sunlight striking a mouldy wall. And HHUUGG3 came about whilst Strange Things Series 3 streamed on the Reception room’s smart TV. We play. We improvise. There is never a plan. We follow a manifesto we wrote with our friend Travis outlining three mindfulness principles in the studio’s practice.

Be grateful for the moment unfolding around us.
Follow the bliss of infinite creative source.
Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

The results keep surprising us. When we decided to share them through a publication, our friend Constantine suggested Hugo as the title, in the tradition of photographers’ zines named after their models. Hugo is hḗrā's deadname and the modern German form, the old name Hugh meaning Mind-Thought-Soul. It is so wholesome that we settle for HUG. Not just HUG though, but HHUUGG spelled twice [HUG HUG]. For 'Give me a hug,' are three magic words we say to each other every time we feel pure joy and we embrace to celebrate. And also, in deference to the kundalini yoga mantra 'har-har' that sounds like 'hud-hud.' The vibration of the heart has the power to clear all blocks preventing one from manifesting prosperity and success in the world.

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HHUUGG Photozines:

HHUUGG 1/2/3

HHUUGG remix