Centrefold: Whenua / Touching Grass
- Dana Dudova
- Mar 31, 2025
- 1 min read
CENTREFOLD | ART | WHENUA | TOUCHING GRASS
Illustrated by Dana Dudova (she/her) | @dayna.banana | Contributing Artist
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CENTREFOLD | ART | WHENUA | TOUCHING GRASS
Illustrated by Dana Dudova (she/her) | @dayna.banana | Contributing Artist
The whole “touching grass” thing hits differently when it’s presented like art instead of a clapback — it’s almost tender, depending on what the illustration looks like in full. It also made me think about how much of “resetting” is just swapping one kind of curation for another; like I’ll tell myself I’m taking a break, then end up tinkering with looks on StyleLookLab anyway. Maybe that’s still a kind of grounding.
There’s something nice about how this doesn’t try to over-contextualize the work — just title, section, and the illustrator credit, like you’re meant to bring your own “outside vs online” baggage to it. It also made me think about how aesthetics get recycled into coping mechanisms; I’ve seen people unwind by turning photos into dreamy styles with ghibli ai generators instead of actually logging off. Either way, the framing here feels pretty intentional.
The phrase “touching grass” always sounds like a joke until you see it framed in an art context like this — then it lands more like a comment on how we perform “being offline.” I’m curious what the illustrator was aiming for emotionally (comfort? irony? both). Side note, I’ve even seen people packaging the whole “get out of the feed” impulse into directories and places to submit ai tool listings, which is kind of the most online thing possible. That tension feels very on-theme.
I like how the page leans on a single strong idea (title + illustration credit) instead of overexplaining — it lets you sit with the phrase and whatever it triggers. It also made me think about how much meaning we hide in “simple” codes and shorthand online; I went down a rabbit hole on vigenere cipher stuff recently and it’s wild how quickly layers build up. Anyway, this feels intentionally spare.
The title had me expecting something jokier, but the way the piece is presented (crediting the illustrator so prominently) makes it read more like a small gallery moment than a meme. It’s funny how “go outside” has become this whole cultural shorthand; it reminds me of taking tiny brain breaks with stuff like BlockBlast before going back to doomscrolling. The contrast kind of suits the theme.