NOIA – the Italian word for “boredom” – is an independent magazine bringing together artists, designers, writers, and other creatives to explore pressing contemporary issues. Issue 4, Absurd Rituals, thinks with the practices – ancient or invented – that give shape to meaning, structure identity, or persist long after their original logic has faded.
True Magic is a personal story of death and dying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opening with a scene of my father casting runes and brewing hawthorn tea, the essay traces our shared fascination with mysticism and cosmic thinking, while confronting the harm wrought by far-right “conspirituality” movements online.
Drawing on the writings of Ursula K. Le Guin, Mary Oliver, and Rachel Carson, I examine how poverty, abuse, and neglect deepened my father’s distrust of institutions and authority, and fuelled his refusal to accept the danger of the coronavirus. In the aftermath, I ask: How can mourning take place when there are no monuments, national remembrance days, or official rituals to honour the dead? And what might grief for systemic injustice make possible? → Read
