Matters of the Everyday In-Between

Making the Relationality Ac/Count

Abstract

In this response to Selena Couture’s resonant account of her engagement with Corpus CTR, I focus on the notion of careful, durational encounter and invite the reader to consider my text as a visit. I situate Selena’s interaction with Corpus at the intersection of time, the everyday, relationality and labour, viewing this as a conflux of elements that propel pressing questions concerning the unseen, in-between and intentionally (un)productive labour of relationship-building. The text touches on how these in-between spaces of earned trust can generate powerful disturbances to the assumptive value/s of settler colonial whiteness that are pervasive across western culture, including academia and creative sectors. Ultimately, I suggest that how we honour and account for these labours in our practices, and in the archives that render value and visibility within the systems in which we work matters, even if doing so in a sustainable, ethical way often poses significant challenges. In the spirit of Selena taking the time to make space for, and account for, the uncertain experimentation of non-extractive relationships, I conclude with a provocation to consider how real relationship-building might be undertaken, ac/counted and recognized in tandem with other labours in ways that preserve the features that make it so profoundly valuable.