These works limn the threshold between the written word (poetry) and the art object (visual art), built from the cuttings of one text: Persons and Places, by George Santayana, which I picked up for a quarter on a “last chance” sale shelf of retired books outside my graduate school’s library in 2004. This selection of pieces comes from my pandemic-era series, titled In The Frail, which is still ongoing; just as the subjects it attends to–grief, loneliness, and the pervasive sense of unknowing, political devolution, the warming planet, and frequency of wildfires–are too.

The act of constructing poems from existing text is a longstanding practice of mine, which I return to in difficult emotional times, times of transition, or creative stagnation; all of which were/are elevated by the global pandemic, lockdown, climate crisis, racial injustice, and loss of life.

Reconfiguring existing text offers a palette and parameters distinct from sitting down to the blank page; the words and phrases that call out to me reveal insights about my psyche, emotions, and subconscious. This process coincides with my overarching use of found material and allows me to achieve a flow state not unlike that of my visual art practice.

I turned to this exercise to feel like I was still making, and to flesh-out and record the world we were (are) enduring. Like diary entries, they catalogue experiential milestones large and small. They wrestle with notions of inside vs. outside, productivity, captivity, creativity, and “otherness.” They are an archive of the anxiety, unsettledness, and prostration borne of idle time in a world “on pause” amidst the late Trump administration, Covid-19, fear/loss/death/isolation, Black Lives Matter protests, and climate-crisis events.  But these cantos also offer slivers of hope, belief in resiliency, reminders that progress is not linear, and avowal that revolution can begin with a whisper.

Limited edition of 27 unique arrangements. Each book was handmade in collaboration with Borderline Press. 2024. 

Photos by Mario Gallucci.