Mira Coviensky, Canada
Forlorn Comfort
Somerset paper, transparent polyester film; combination of tunnel book and codex with multiple spines and pages that open to different directions.
Papier Somerset, film polyester transparent; mélange de livre-tunnel et de codex avec plusieurs dos et pages ouvrant dans différentes directions.
24 x 53 x 30 cm
2006
Artists' Books / Livre d'artiste
Artist's Statement:
This artists’ book arose out of a grouping of events: seeing a heron in the small area of wetlands left in downtown Toronto, noticing the enormous amount of natural imagery in the plastic items at the local dollar store, hearing the birds outside my window, picking leaves from the trees while walking by nearby Lake Ontario, rereading an old article on the disappearing songbirds, and being reminded of a quote questionably attributed to Chief Seattle. The quote, “If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit”, is interwoven in Forlorn Comfort with statistics on how quickly species are becoming extinct. Overlaying the text and overlapping the silhouette of the single heron are repeated images of leaves from one of the trees. The silhouette is based on a photograph in National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region, 1994. This sculptural book is meant to be viewed upright, with the pages spread and curved. The interaction of transparent polyester film and opaque paper, of the layering, and the blocking of images creates a complex composite image and conveys a sense of time and distance.