Codex to the Woods- Artist’s Book
Codex to the woods
Handmade artist’s book
December 2007 See the following 13 pictures of the book unfolding
This book is a combination of woodcut prints and a short story on the theme of the hunt. The classic hunt scene- with men chasing wildlife through a snowy forest- is reversed and an alternative version is portrayed. In this book, a girl is exploring the forest when she becomes a sacrifice to the beasts.
The implicit horror of this, the destruction of life, is rendered with a curious dignity. The girl willingly surrenders her body, partly as it is portrayed as a temporary vessel for her soul. In an elegant way the beasts act together in unity to bring about her death and dismemberment. There are parallels in this story to human-led hunts that rejoice in a primaeval urge to capture, dominate and kill. In this version this aspect is reinforced by the irony that most of the animals involved in her death do not eat flesh.
The black and white woodcut lines are particularly appropriate to render the confusing mass of shadows and light in the snowy forest, where images seem to appear and disappear at will. The first page spread shows a mountain lion chasing the girl, but as the page is flipped only the tail remains and the animal shape blends into a forest scene.
The book is folded so that the viewer may progress through the text with the accompanying imagery in an organic way. Every new scene or twist to the tale unfolds, literally as well as metaphorically. The viewer is brought into the forest through opening each page, and has to remember the sequence of folds to restore the book to its original formation. After the story has been read to its grim conclusion the pages can be rearranged in a loose cube to form scenes similar to a stage set.
Codex to the woods
One sheet folded artist’s book
Hand printed with silkscreen in two colours on Somerset paper, hand cut and hand folded.
Price on request
Enquiries to wuongean@hotmail.com
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