In Place Of (2019). Ink, natural dye, and inkjet print on handmade papers, woven paper thread, iris leaf, butterfly cutout. 5.5. x 8.5 x 0.5″ closed, 10 pages (plus 1 endsheet), variable edition of six. Collections: Oberlin College Clarence Ward Art Library, The W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Library at SMFA/Tufts Special Collections, University of Miami Richter Library Special Collections, Indiana University Wells Library Special Collections; Emory University Robert W. Woodruff Library Special Collections.
In place of
Once I met a Czech man in Vienna and we talked while walking through the city. He said something like this:
I get my news the old fashioned way: directly from people I know. The important stuff will eventually get to me. What I care about is what I can do locally, so I ran for vice-mayor of my small town and won. This is how I make a difference.
He became the subject, the actor, the one who creates change.
Not the object who is subjected to the news.
I’ve come to distrust our media outlets.
The pace at which rumors, gossip, and fearmongering spreads is faster than the pace at which I can digest our constantly changing world.
I am not interested in fragments that sound different based on who is proclaiming them,
Or half-truths baked into a medium that I used to trust,
Or the residue of reality rather than real things
I want the actual thing, knowing that it will change over time,
Not the vision of it trapped and mocked,
Or the site of its struggle to escape our traps.
We used to know that THIS made THAT.
Now it’s all smoke and mirrors, shadows of the truth layered over more fabricated mystery.
A monarch visited me today. I’ve never seen one at my house before.
Or maybe it was a viceroy. Regardless, it was the biggest news of the day.
