AfterShadows – Artist’s Book

AfterShadows refers to a set of digital photos that I created from a series of petrographs inspired by my time as Artist in Residence at the Grand Canyon, in 2011. The sequence may be shown as either a digital or literal exhibition.

AfterShadows also refers to a 2014 artist’s book that I created from the same images and paired with an essay entitled “Erosion.”

Both derive from my AIR experience at the Grand Canyon. The first thing that struck me at the Canyon were its immense shadows, cast by eroded rock formations. I took photos of the shadows and printed them on tiny white beach pebbles from the Bay of Fundy, with each shadow corresponding to the time of day it was cast in the Canyon.

I then arranged the pebbles to tell chronological narratives of walks I took, or of places around the globe in different time zones at the same moment. In reference to the different eons of the Canyon’s history, I photographed the pebbles against varying backdrops such as the tideline on a beach, mudflats, beach grass, or ash, and also at morning, noon and night.

After I printed the images I wrote a four-part essay called “Erosion,” which tells tales around the story of how they came to be. Because the images came first, and only later were conceptually framed by the text, I chose to literally recreate that experience for the reader/viewer of the subsequent artist’s book, which accounts for its design.

To honor the fact that the Grand Canyon is a public monument, accessible to all, I chose to keep the cost as low as possible so that the book would be accessible too, and not prohibitively expensive. I think of it as a a “paperback” version of an artist’s book. Amy Borezo, of Shelter Bookworks in Orange, MA, built the book’s box using simple materials and we kept the size small at 7.5” x 9.25”.

A version of the essay “Erosion” with five images was printed in the literary journal Lumina in spring, 2015.

The AfterShadows artist book is in the Special Collections of Smith College.

The edition size of AfterShadows is 50 copies. To date the first 22 are accounted for. To purchase a signed copy either contact me by email or you may purchase it from the magnificent artist’s book dealer Vamp & Tramp at www.vampandtramp.com

The price is $90.