About the Ideas Behind the Installation:

Bo(u)nd is an installation-book work that realizes the artist’s book on a large scale and in a larger exhibition arena.   Both the installation and the book of Bo(u)nd reflect on the nature of marriage and long-term commitment: a pairing of individualities to form a “we,” and the resulting intimate and lifelong conversation.  Bringing the private space of the bedroom into the public realm of the gallery, the original installation utilized domestic and industrial materials to explore a prolonged narrative of intimacy.  

Staying with the same person for a lifetime is a commitment that translates into sharing some 20,000 (or more) meals, 20,000 good-nights and 20,000 how-was-your-day conversations.  As someone who has been in a committed relationship for more than 25 years, I know first-hand that the work that goes into maintaining a relationship for this long is quotidian, less about large declarations of “love” and more about daily actions: gentle touches, small stitches, over and over and over.  It is the work of knowing another – and not only to know but to keep knowing, day after day.  Bo(u)nd acts as both as an recognition and an enactment of this labor.

Bo(u)nd was originally designed for installation at the Emmanuel Gallery in Denver, Colorado and its first showing also included one evening of original choreography that interacted with the installation.  

About the Book and the Text:

The book is constructed with a dos-a-dos (“back to back”) binding.  Each book unit was created from a section of well-used bed linens of a married couple, with the stains, tears and holes the only visible “texts.”  Individual units were prepared and bound in the studio, and then stitched together by hand in long groups. More than two dozen volunteers helped with the assembly.  

In its initial appearance, the book encompassed 350 single units and stretched for more than 70 feet across the gallery.  Starting at the east wall, the book extended under the double bed in the center of the gallery before turning upward to climb to the balcony, then climbed up a ladder and rose toward the skylight, losing substance and form until only feathers and gauze remained.

About the Materials and Components: 

Bo(u)nd features a vintage double-sized brass bed in the center of the gallery; its top mattress is slit down the middle.  In the slit nest several hundred hand-washed eggshells; a coverlet of white, thin cotton with over 16,000 stitches covers the two sides of the bed.  Intersecting with the bed and secured to the mattress by grommets with are a series of wall-mounted industrial cables.  The cable lengths are assembled in two sections: on the bottom is a heavier-weight cable covered by long zippers that have been hand-stitched over that cable, while on the top is a lighter-weight cable that is bare and extends to hooks installed on the gallery wall.  Top and bottom are both secured with cable clamps and joined with turnbuckles. 

The book in Bo(u)nd utilizes individual units assembled with 10/4 cotton bookbinding thread into an extended dos-a-dos structure.  The individual books are constructed from used bed linens; those linens serve both as pages and that have been adhered to a cover-weight paper substrate with Buffermount.  Units of the book that were placed on the balcony and the ladder that reached up to the skylight also included feathers and gauze. 

Sections of the book (ranging from 2’-10’) available for purchase; please inquire.