Infra-ordinary People | Cara Blue Adams

In his book Species of Spaces and other Pieces, French writer Georges Perec coined the term infraordinary to describe the ordinary and habitual aspects of everyday life (Perec, 1997: 206).

Introducing the book, Perec writes:

"Many, if not most, of these things have been described, inventoried, photographed, written about or itemized. My intention in the following pages was to describe what remains; that which we generally don’t notice, which doesn’t call attention to itself, which is of no importance: what happens when nothing happens... See more

Instead of the headline news of daily papers that recounted the sensational and the fantastic, he was fascinated with minute situations, gestures, moments and habits that we overlooked or missed. Thus the word infra- referring to what is underneath, or even inferior. Perec’s endeavor was to devise ways which the infraordinary could be revealed, and... See more