ARIA JOIE

JACQUI GREEN

DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE

The Golden Branch Museum of Social History

do you remember love

Aria Joie ♡ Jacqui Green

presented by

The Golden Branch Museum of Social History

in collaboration with

The Varyne Roth Centre for the Performing Arts
New Weight History Museum
Centralia and West Archive Association
JoiePark Independent Press

LOVE'S FIRST EXPLOSION

Newspaper headlines, partially visible

EXPLOSION AT ARIA J-
CONCERT LEAVES TEE-
FANS SHAKEN

Two Dead and-
Hospitalised i-
West Centrali-
Gang War

IS ARIA JOIE-
TERRORIST

The relationship between Aria Joie and Jacqui Green first came to the public eye with the release of ‹ Love's First Explosion › on Aria's private social media, with thinly veiled references to a new romance in both the lyrics and the dedication. It has only later become apparent just how literally explosive the first days of their romance were. While fans speculated wildly, the press was more concerned with Aria's alleged involvement in terrorist-

-activities. What neither part appears to have suspected is how intimately connected those two things were.

"I honestly thought I was about to see Aria Joie die in front of me," a witness identified as Mx Orchid reported to the Centralia Herald. "She was pinned to the ground by this huge woman, bleeding everywhere."

That woman was Jacqui Green, the "JG" to whom ‹ Love's First Explosion › was dedicated.

Inset 1

IS ARIA JOIE A TERRORIST?

The question on everyone’s lips tonight, following a public firefight in West Centralia that left two dead and twelve hospitalised: just what was washed-up pop star Aria Joie’s role in the fiasco? Rumours had previously swirled when an explosion disrupted one of her concerts earlier this year, and now, with her captured on camera, the question seems more urgent than ever!

/ STAR! News Daily

Inset 2

Who has word on "JG"? I know you lot are quicker on the uptake than the press, but I haven't heard a peep. Nobody can even tell me where Ar posted the song from, which is sus as hell. Last sighting being beaten up in Centralia (seriously?!??) and now this? I thought pop music was a pretty chill thing to be a fan of. Which... I guess was stupid.

/ AJNETWORK user paperplanes

Inset description

Left: reactions to Aria's activities in the months leading up to the September Incident varied wildly, but shared a common elelent of confusion and concern. Previous page: headlines thought to relate to early interactions between Jacqui and Aria.

The evening I met Aria Joie was otherwise unremarkable. I had I believe been to see some show or other - third rate theatre, and sometimes that's just what one needs to make oneself feel at peace. Seeing good acting places a terrible burden on one, you know. And perhaps she felt so too, because we ran into one another in the lobby. My darlings, I cannot tell you what courageous spirit possessed me in that moment, for I am as you know utterly retiring in my person generally. To a fault, one might say. In any case, I found my courage, and spoke up, and asked her if she would be so good as to take a drink with me. She looked me over, and I have never in my life felt more scrutinized or more charmed to be so. She might have undressed me in the lobby and I would have been satisfied. But, alas, she is a faithful wife. All the same, she granted me a few hours of her time - "I rather miss Consolation Coffee," she said, and I believe she was testing me, and I believe I fell for it. If you've heard that the coffee is mediocre then I fear you have been led on, your standards set unconscionably high. But lo! These prices we pay for meeting our idols.

We talked of this and that, such trivialities as lasting peace and such vital topics as celebrity gossip. And towards the end of our little liaison, I found the courage to ask a question which has consumed me for uncounted years: how DOES one acquire such a fine figure of a woman as Jacqui to be one's wife? "Oh, I don't know," she said, stirring her coffee. "I ran into her on the street and asked if she'd like to get a drink with me."

/ Antonia Agate Advances: A Memoir

THE STRANGE LIFE OF JACQUI GREEN

Just who was Jacqui Green? Under the public eye she remained largely silent, giving no interviews during Aria’s lifetime, but friends of the couple described her as anything but taciturn — tactless, boisterous, larger than life. Her past was written on her body for anyone to see in the form of scars, tattoos and undisguised cybernetic implants, and Aria made no attempt to conceal the fact that she and Jacqui had a lively past together. In the days of the Righteous Vanguard, it could be regarded as a sort of pedigree to have been on the wrong side of the law — suitably anti-establishment in deed as well as word. Despite this, her origins remain mysterious.

A large number of conspiracy theories exist as to her background — unsurprisingly, given the lack of official records relating to anything other than her criminal activities. Jacqui Green, formally, was born nowhere, does not appear to have attended any school, and has no parents, siblings, or distant relations. Although she has been accused of association with experimental programs in the Diaspora, Apostolos and OriCon, that go-to solution for any unsolved mystery, she has been connected most frequently-

-with Kalliope, largely because Jillian Red, of the Free States of Kalliope, claimed a pre-existing association with the planet.

Jillian Red is perhaps the key to Jacqui Green. While the image of the two of them as twins taking on fanciful matching names as an affectation has been popularised in books such as ‹ Rose and Thorne: Odamas Comes Home › and in the film ‹ Perpetual Motion ›, the idea is without factual basis. They were, categorically, lovers. An intriguing note allegedly written by Jillian indicates she had lost her memories of the fact, although this is generally considered apocryphal, possibly fabricated to support one of the aforementioned conspiracy theories.

Inset

Interviewer: Certain records we’ve uncovered indicate that Jacqui Green was once a part of a team of assassins—or one half of a pair, to be more precise. Would you care to comment?

Aria: No. That’s not news.

Interviewer: One source we spoke with directly commented that the two of them were lovers, and that her counterpart was none other than—

Aria: Hey. You know what? Fuck all the way off.

Inset Description

Above: transcript from an abortive live interview on OCWTV; the footage can be viewed in video room 1. While Aria’s uncharacteristic irritation regarding the topic of her wife has been taken to indicate the inappropriateness of calling the supposed siblings “lovers”, other sources cite tension between Aria and Jacqui on the topic of Jillian as a more probable cause. Aria was known for a polished media presence, and it speaks volumes as to how eventful her life was that “storming out of a live interview” isn’t a well-remembered incident.

Image, top left

Hand-written text scrawled in pencil on a tax document.

Text below

we’re a neon dance
in a crowded room
shotgun, palm-thud
and we’ll kill it soon
we’re a kiss in the dark
we’re on track for the moon
we’re alive, shoot us down
and we’ll be back soon

/ Aria Joie

Inset, top right

For the last time, Rose, I don't remember her like that. I wish to fuck I did, because it sounds wild, but I don't. I guess I can take her stuff off your hands, but if you’ve got some kind of idea of kicking me out of amnesia with sentimental bullshit then you’ve gone soft.

/ Jillian Red

Description of page contents

Top left: unpublished fragment of a prospective song found, as is not unusual for the archive of Aria Joie’s files, misplaced among and in fact written on one corner of a collection of legal documents. The text is speculated to be dedicated not to Aria’s relationship with Jacqui but Jacqui’s relationship with Jillian, although, given the violence of their first encounters, this analysis can certainly be questioned, particularly in light of the interview footage included here. Original.

Bottom left: transcribed version of the same text.

Above: text of a note allegedly written by Jillian Red, probably apocryphal. "Rose" here is taken to be Diego Rose.

LOVE UNDER FIRE

At the close of the war against Rigour, the dead were counted - among them, a number of Aria's and Jacqui's closest friends and acquaintances. This exhibition includes never before seen video footage of an interview between Aria Joie and Jace Rethal, apparently in response to a query regarding her views on war, possibly as part of a project Prof. Rethal undertook on survivors' guilt. The project was never published, but his estate has kindly granted permission for the video to be used here. Aria never spoke about the war publicly, and while the interview in full contains no shortage of spectacular revelations, we focus here on the personal crisis which Aria herself says she returned to again and again throughout her life: "Jacqui was ready to go, you know? She saw an opening to make a difference and she saw the cost, and she was - not fine with it. But okay. And I guess I thought: If I lose her now, what's it even all for?"

Inset pull-quote

"I GUESS I THOUGHT: IF I LOSE HER NOW, WHAT'S IT EVEN ALL FOR?"

Jace: Why do you keep coming back to that moment, do you think?

Aria: Okay, you know that one. (a pause) I do think I was right, but I don't know if other people agree. Orth. Mako. And - well, you know.

Jace: The people who aren't still around to have opinions.

Aria: Yeah...

Jace: And your wife - Jacqui?

Aria: We've talked about it a lot. (imitating Jacqui's voice) "I'd have done the same for you." But we aren't, like - in the same position. She's always acted as my bodyguard. But I'm meant to act like a hero.

Jace: Ouch.

Aria: It's cool. We're cool. The wedding was great, I should've invited you. I would've, if I'd, uh. Ever met you outside your head. At the time.

Jace: Would you make the same choice again? I think I know, but for the record.

Aria: Yeah. I'll take a few nightmares for her. Don't tell my PR manager.

/ Aria Joie interviewed by Jace Rethal

REMEMBER US

Throughout their eventful lives, this is how their relationship looked to the world, no matter how Aria tried to step back from the spotlight: she was the front figure, and Jacqui the shadow at her side. We find the truth of them only in fragments: marginalia, private correspondence, ephemeral mesh traces archived by chance. A great many such exist - in fact far more than could possibly be presented in one exhibition, no matter how comprehensive. As the curators of this exhibition, it is our firm belief that they would wish these stories to be told. "I don't wanna forget love," Jacqui once wrote to Aria. It was what they stood for.

Inset

She was such a big part of my life, you know? All of it, really, for a minute there. And now it’s slick cars and fancy clothes and politics, and I’m not saying you don’t look hot as shit in a suit, and I’m not saying I’m not glad you pulled me out of the pit I was digging myself, but you know how it is, right? You had your guy, and your girl, and one’s dead and the other one’s where the fuck ever, but you don’t just forget love. Unless you’re Red, I guess.

I mean to say, I don’t wanna forget love. Not for her, not for you. Shit, that’s what this was all about, right? Remembering that love matters. That’s why you’re here. That’s why I’m here.

You better come home soon or I’ll start with poetry. That’s an honest threat. Fifty rhymes for tits.

You’ll hate it.

/ Jacqui Green to Aria Joie

I don't really know who I thought Jacqui Joie-Green was. Dangerous asshole or something. Terrifying war hero, criminal, ready to bash heads in. She's probably all that, but she's also weirdly cool. I wanted to impress her even when she was being kind of an idiot. She hit Aria Joie, you know, the woman who calls Righteousness her fucking PR agent and just sort of casually strips corporations of power as a morning workout - wait for it - over the back of the head with a cushion to get her attention. And then they both went into a fit of hysterics, and I found I wanted to be in on it. This is all off the record because "it's not the moment for that" I guess, and, to repeat, she calls Righteousness her PR agent. "Hold onto the footage, kid," Jacqui told me on my way out. "It'll make a great party piece when we're dead." Fair, I guess, but I can't honestly imagine them being dead. They must be in their 70s, but they're maybe even more vital in person than they seem on the public stage.

Everyone talks about Aria Joie, and I get it, she's a lot. But there's something about Jacqui. And there's something about the way they look at each other.

Hope someone looks at me like that when I'm 75. You know?

Her dog did eat my gloves though. Can I claim that as an expense?

/ Dion Ray, then Junior Reporter for the Times, to her editor

TO THOSE CURIOUS FOR DISCOVERY

P 00000000001.2231004.3200739.DZ4419SBYJJ

DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE