Enclosed you will find, burnt reference book pages embedded in cotton paper, wood, clothespins, each sheet is 11x14”, ~10’x8’x16” installed, 2018
Enclosed you will find (2018) is a series of burnt book pages embedded in handmade white cotton paper. The burnt pages are from a Shakespeare quarterly reference publication repurposed from when the Millsaps library purged its paper archives of unread literature. Burning a book is a strong action referential to Fahrenheit 451 and various other book burnings dating back to antiquity, most notably the burning of the Library of Alexandria. To burn a book is to be fearful of its contents and the spreading of ideas contrary to those held by the powerful. I’ve burnt the pages of an out of circulation reference book and cauterized them in wet paper, securing the burnt action indefinitely in white cotton and compressing the materials together through the process of hand papermaking.