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the sense of nearness
2015. ninety four handmade pages, coptic stitched spine, velum soft cover, 8" x 8" x 4"
“the sense of nearness” highlights the quiet nature of the relationship existing between skin, paper, and touch. Slightly uneven paper passes under fingertip, and entire chapters are formed of silent pages with only broken flecks of words emerging from the matrix of the page. The viewer becomes aware, while thumbing along through the blankness of pages handmade specifically for the dimensions of the book, that each page repurposes previously printed paper. Using the same source as ‘g(r)aze,' 'the sense of nearness’ is composed of reconstituted portions of “On Touching – Jean Luc Nancy” (Jacques Derrida), broken up thematically as I related it to my practice. This process of tearing selected sections from their origin acts to unite my interpretation and thoughts as filtered through another’s writing; it calls back to my process of understanding “On Touching” and the other texts in which I visually differentiated passages by colours. Physically compiling these excerpts produces an entirely mute point – there is no text to read – which heightens the physical experience of the book. The only additional text written within the book is the chapter title at the beginning at each section. With each section named for the colour a particular theme was assigned, each mass of pages make nearly-visible the relationships I found between “On Touching” and themes running through my practice.
the sense of nearness
(april 2015) 8" x 8" x 4"
ninety four handmade pages, coptic stitched spine, frosted velum soft cover.
as installed for ‘felt knowledge’ with cheir ourgia and g(r)aze in the background
detail deckled edges of the handmade paper.