Millie Niss
Many of the contributors to and readers of netpoetic knew Millie Niss and her work. Millie passed away November 29, 2009 at the age of 36, as has been noted here previously.
Martha Deed, Millie's mother, has put together 111 photos of Millie from birth till shortly before her death. I've put those photos and Martha's notes about the photos on vispo.com, along with a piece of writing I did about Millie.
Millie and I shared a common background in literature, mathematics, and computer science. And participated together in the Webartery list, in its early days. And we shared a passion for creating web-based works synthetic of arts, media, and technology. We could talk together about th
ese things at length. I shall miss her.
Many thanks to Martha for allowing me and you access to these photos which are dear to her. I found them very moving and learned much about my friend's life that I did not know, previously. Thanks also to Martha for her generous correspondence with me, in a difficult time for her, throughout the process of our doing this project. I quote one of Martha's emails in its entirety in the writing I did; it is very illuminating concerning several issues relevant to the photos and provides us with some knowledge of the health problems Millie experienced throughout her life.
'For Millie Niss' also contains many links to Millie's work, writings about her, and to Martha's work. They worked together as a creative team sometimes known as M & M. Martha is continuing her own work and is also working on various projects involving Millie's writings and web art. Martha is continuing in her creativity, which one can't help but know Millie would have wished for her very much. She is continuing the Sporkworld blog she and Millie did together, for instance.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
3 Responses to “Millie Niss”.
That’s a nice tribute, Jim, and a really useful resource for people who want to find out more about Millie and her work. The 111 photos are particularly powerful, I think.
Yes, the photos and notes for them that Martha put together are helpful to people who knew Millie. I found them so, for me, and that’s the sort of feedback I’ve been getting from other people. The pictures and their ordering help us meditate on Millie and her life.
I’d read your excellent piece about her work when I started this. That was really good concerning her work and its relation to her life. And it helped me revisit her work. I think you have done Millie and her work a great service with that writing, Edward. I’m sure others will find it as truly helpful as I did.
Between Millie’s work itself, your writing about her work, this look at her life, mainly, and the other links, people have a few angles from which to view the life and work of Millie Niss.
I’m sure there will be more writing by others. I’ll add links as I come across them.
The longest gap in the pictures is between the first picture of Spork, which is from 2000, and the previous picture, which is from 1994. From when she was 21 till she was 27.
Thanks for this, Jim, I wasn’t aware of all the trials Millie endured. It’s important, as you say, to offer a number of angles from which to view her life and work – the 111 photos is, indeed, a powerful one.