I cannot even tell you how much of an inspiration the work of Sarah Horowitz is to me, right now.
I have such a complicated relationship with altered books. As the daughter of a teacher and the granddaughter of a librarian, I grew up with a respect for books that bordered on reverence. Seeing them damaged or rendered unuseable is really upsetting. Altered books make me uncomfortable, and poorly-done ones are actually repugnant to me.
But then I realized that if someone were to replace my library with all brand-new books, I would be very sad. The wear on my books - as physical objects - holds their history and makes my relationship with their contents immediate and visceral. Many of my childhood books have bite marks on the spine, because I would hold them in my teeth while climbing up to read in a tree or on the roof. The books I carry when I travel get stained and frayed, and the damage tells a story. And I love secondhand books that have been marked up in pencil, because I can see what was important to the person who read it before me.
Su Blackwell's book-cut sculpture is beautifully crafted. In a way, it's very similar to receiving a marked-up copy of a book from a friend. Their particular interpretation of the text is privileged for your consideration, and you can re-evaluate your response to the work through the lens of their relationship.
It's like turning books into memories, I guess. I think Blackwell's work is stunning, and the little frisson of revulsion I feel at the sight of a damaged book makes it all the more interesting.
But then I realized that if someone were to replace my library with all brand-new books, I would be very sad. The wear on my books - as physical objects - holds their history and makes my relationship with their contents immediate and visceral. Many of my childhood books have bite marks on the spine, because I would hold them in my teeth while climbing up to read in a tree or on the roof. The books I carry when I travel get stained and frayed, and the damage tells a story. And I love secondhand books that have been marked up in pencil, because I can see what was important to the person who read it before me.
Su Blackwell's book-cut sculpture is beautifully crafted. In a way, it's very similar to receiving a marked-up copy of a book from a friend. Their particular interpretation of the text is privileged for your consideration, and you can re-evaluate your response to the work through the lens of their relationship.
It's like turning books into memories, I guess. I think Blackwell's work is stunning, and the little frisson of revulsion I feel at the sight of a damaged book makes it all the more interesting.
"Do not let us agitate ourselves unduly." [His father said.] "Such a life let us pray God that it may please him to enable us to pray that we may lead."
"His mother would pounce noiselessly on his remarks as a barn-owl pounces upon a mouse, and would bring them up in a pellet six months afterwards when they were no longer in harmony with their surroundings."
"The mangled bones of too many murdered confessions were lying whitening round the skirts of his mother's dress, to allow him by any possibility to trust her further."
"[The headmaster] had fallen upon him in hall like a moral landslip."
