History's Shadow. Photographs by David Maisel. Nazraeli Press, 2011. 72 pp., illustrated throughout, 12x16". Images from here.
I have previously featured the wonderful Library of Dust by David Maisel.
Book description:
"David Maisel’s work has always been concerned with processes of memory, excavation, and transformation. These themes are given new form in his latest work, 'History’s Shadow'.
In this series, Maisel re-photographs x-rays from museum archives that depict artifacts from antiquity, scanning and digitally manipulating the selected source material.
X-rays have historically been used by art conservators for structural examination of art and artifacts much as physicians examine bones and internal organs; they reveal losses, replacements, construction methods, and internal trauma invisible to the naked eye. By transcribing both the inner and outer surfaces of their subjects simultaneously, they form spectral images of indeterminate space, depth, and scale.
The resulting photographs seem like transmissions from the distant past, both spanning and collapsing time. They express – through feeling and art, as well as science and reason – the shape-shifting nature of time itself, and the continuous presence of the past contained within us.
The book contains an original short story by Jonathan Lethem that was inspired by Maisel’s images."
2 comments:
I like this. I will be following it up.
Also, I wrote again but did so on my blog rather than here which might have been a mistake. If you'd like some of my publications sent to you Sara, then please let me know. Free of course because I like what you do.
David Maisel's work always has a really interesting starting-point (and execution) I think...
Sorry my fault, I did see it but time just ran away from me. Thank you, will email!
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