Amelia Bird

The short essay in Holes is about my younger brother Carson’s relationship to digging holes in the yard when he was a child. Carson’s holes, like many youthful games, start out as innocent experiments, but as he ages his holes are repurposed in ways he never could’ve anticipated, and the way he adapts
to the changes gives insight to what kind of man he will become. The structure of the book builds on the content of the essay; the act of opening a dark, protective portfolio to find a delicate pamphlet of Japanese paper and the way the letterpress printed text, wax, and ink move down the page, accumulating weight from behind as the story progresses, mirrors both the act of excavation and the gathering of experience that can occur in our own backyards.

10½ x 5¾ inches. Eight-page pamphlet structure enclosed in a cloth Japanese Portfolio with embossed title. Essay by the artist hand-set in metal Joanna type with hand-painted sumi and india ink on partially-waxed Japanese paper. Edition of 25, 2010.


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