08 January 2010

Altered books (Montana)

When an organisation found itself with more books than it could give away, and didn't want to destroy them because of its ideals about free speech (and other bits of contentious back story), it gave them to artists to alter. The books had been published by a white-suprematist organisation. Their metamorphosis became an exhibition called "Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate", which is currently on show at the University of Montana. Read the whole story here.
The installation being constructed by Dana Boussard and her daughter is called Hate Begins at Home. Other works include "a re-edit of one book's text by Charles Gute, which reverses the original message; a short story--which completely ignored the books-- about racism written and illustrated by children's book author Faith Ringgold; a book with every word individually cut out, leaving only a lacy, white series of spider-webbed pages by Ariana Boussard-Reifel."
A similar book is in the collection of the Museum of Art and Design, New York, which is showing an exhibition called “Slash: Paper Under the Knife,” the third show in the museum’s Materials and Process series. It follows “Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting” and “Pricked: Extreme Embroidery” in 2007 and 2008. Read the New York Times review of the show here.

2 comments:

Julie said...

Wow! That lacey book is amazing! I don't think I would have the dexterity or the patience but it's very effective, on more than one level.

Amelia said...

wow - this is really interesting. I have come across Faith Ringgold before, but not these other things. I heard about the exhibition in New York and wish I could have gone there.

Yesterday on talking to a shop assistant, I discovered this artist: Yuken Teruya - not about racism and books, but exquisite paper-cutting.

It is really fascinating discovering what people are up to creatively out in the blogosphere. Also,I love the way you write :)

Amelia.x
(@: www.101birdtales.blogspot.com)