Library of Dust. Photographs by David Maisel. Essays by Geoff Manaugh, Terry Toedtemeier and Michael Roth. Chronicle Books, 2008. 108 pp., illustrated throughout, 13,25x17".
"Esteemed photographer David Maisel has created a somber and beautiful series of images depicting canisters containing the cremated remains of the unclaimed dead from an Oregon psychiatric hospital.
Dating back as far as the nineteenth century, these canisters have undergone chemical reactions, causing extravagant blooms of brilliant white, green, and blue corrosion, revealing unexpected beauty in the most unlikely of places.
This stately volume is both a quietly astonishing body of fine art from a preeminent contemporary photographer, and an exceptionally poignant monument to the unknown deceased."
This is a little bit gruesome and I find the premises a little bit questionable as far as the disrespect shown to the deceased and their families.
Bearing this in mind I do however find the result absolutely breath-taking, and a poignant record of weathering and the changing of times.
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