a l i s o n   h a h n

In this one-of-a-kind handmade book, images of an abandoned and dilapidated orphanage and previous asylum are used to metaphorically represent one’s psyche. The imagery represents approaching, traveling through and being on the other side of a traumatic event. The pages in the book are handmade from flax and the images are iron-on inkjet transfers.

This artist book is inspired by memories of my mother making school lunches for me and my siblings growing up and symbolizes the care and thoughtfulness she took in preparing them. The five pages represent both the five days of the week that she made lunches and also the number of children for whom she made them. Photographs at the bottom of each lunch bag of my mother preparing sandwiches relate to the feeling of anticipation of eating one of her carefully made meals. The handwritten texts are from a collection of notes and post-its that accompanied my lunches on occasion.

The inspiration for this one-of-a-kind artist book was a found library book that contained a dramatic story about a young woman and her relationship with her father. The use of a wood-burning tool eliminates ninety percent of the text in the book and the book was soaked in water as well as dye. The caramelized smell of fire one experiences when reading the book, the hues of soot and scabs, and the skeleton-like pages that turn like brittle bones all work together to create the texture of trauma. The intention of the artist’s book is to use the physical trauma of the book to represent experiences that damage the psyche. A new story in the book arises from portions of the text that are left unharmed.

This artist book was inspired by the 1942 vintage text “The Art of Seeing” by Aldus Huxley. In the book, Huxley expounds on his perception of visual disability and a method for correcting impaired vision called the Bates Method. Using Huxley’s premise that the faculty of perceiving is related to the individual’s accumulated experiences, or memory, this book symbolizes my use of eyewear during my childhood as suggestive of something more than an imbalance of the muscles that support vision.