Curated by Saba Saif Ur Rehman

"Exploring Artists Books as Keepers of Individual and Collective Memory"

This exhibit curates a selection of Artist Books made during the global Pandemic and builds on the various ways Artists Books have been utilized as a medium of expression to record communicate and reflect on the realities of the new post-COVID world. The Artist Books narrow down and expand in their form and content, reflecting and recording realties both intrinsic and extrinsic, spaces from personal to public, from inside to outside. Using this medium as a vehicle, these artists navigated the realm of unknown during a time of unprecedented loss, turmoil, and solitude which changed the world and its inhabitants significantly.

An ode to the human resilience, these artefacts represent the human capacity to make beauty and meaning out of chaos. These works are historically accurate and emotionally intimate records of the legacy of this global catastrophe, allowing us to reflect and contemplate how we all are connected now by the mutual grief we endured together. These messages are expressed in this change-resistant genre of Artist Books which use its age-old attributes of persistence, longevity, uniqueness, independence, and boundlessness.

The collection of Artist Books curated in this section explore the artist's work expanding from the inner domestic and personal space to the outside world which kept transforming from known to unknown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The comfort and familiarity were constantly challenged, deconstructed, and reconstructed, as manifested by the themes and materials of the created artwork during that time. These Artist Books record and celebrate human resilience and hopefulness during the bleakest hour.

Books Included in "Personal" Section

Section Header 2 (Solitude Through Season)

The collection of Artist Books curated in this section explore the artist's work expanding from the inner domestic and personal space to the outside world which kept transforming from known to unknown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The comfort and familiarity were constantly challenged, deconstructed, and reconstructed, as manifested by the themes and materials of the created artwork during that time. These Artist Books record and celebrate human resilience and hopefulness during the bleakest hour.

Books Included in "Collective" Section

Section Header 3 (Solitude Through Season)

The section includes Artist Books drawing on the human capacity to revert to the familiar to make sense of the unknown. The utilization of preexisting literary traditions allows these artists to contemplate the nature of the current unknown. It is easier and more effective to build from the past to reflect on the new reality. This vehicle for the contemplation has been used to ground the new and unknown in the realm of familiar, giving a starting point to investigate the new reality, piece by piece. The books included in this section use a personal narrative borrowing from past literary tradition to build new meaning.

Henry David Thoreau: Walden. Solitude.

"In 'Solitude,' a chapter of 'Walden,' Thoreau describes the advantages of solitary life in his cabin in the woods of Massachusetts, where he lived as a hermit for two years beginning in 1845. All of the materials used come from the medical field or the restoration supply industry. For example, the text is printed on filter paper that was originally used in labs, just like the round filters bearing the graphics. In order to emphasize the clear, almost sterile impression, I did not use any color; the book comes to life through the different materials and white tones. The font, designed especially for this project by Alex Sonderegger at so+ba in Tokyo, is embossed into the soft filter paper using transparent printing ink. Each page of text shows the delicate outline of a circle that stands for one of the 14 filters included in the book. The round paper filters show abstract symbols and elements, all of which come from graphics representing the global coronavirus events in the spring of 2020. In the context of Thoreau's praise of nature and solitude, however, they could also be illustrations from the area around Walden Pond. The book has a flexible binding made of Paraprint non-woven fabric, a material that is used in restoration to cover delicate surfaces. The book and filters are stored separately in folded packaging made of archival cardboard, with a silk-screened title. The book is a collaboration with jewelry designer Susan Pietzsch from Tokyo." -- From artist's website, viewed 9 December 2021.
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