Signposts

​

This series developed from my exploratory fusion of handmade paper and writing. In tandem with the materially rich process of making paper, individual  word s are perceived as creative elements, as design motifs, as resonant utterances and dynamic signs. 
    

          Each Signpost begins with a 3.5 x 5-inch handmade paper. Each paper is embossed in (grade one) Braille and inscribed in lower case text with a synergistic word. These papers are then placed innocuously (and temporarily) in public locations and photographed in situ. They are left in place, that passersby may notice, read, retrieve and / or discard them. 
    

          Initially, I installed and photographed in my immediate vicinity, in everyday and perhaps overlooked public spaces. As personal and professional pursuits took me beyond the region, the project traveled with me, and I continued to seek meaningful locations to post and document. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, this work, like so many other aspects of our lives, contracted. At first, I installed in and around my personal space. Subsequently, I worked digitally with found images of the places I had planned to go before travel was restricted.

          Signposts is a compilation of eighteen sequential photographic diptychs. It is presented as a series of mnemonics, emphasizing and supporting our best personal and communal determinations.