ESTA MINA
Canvas, coloring pencils, aluminum, adhesives, and nine mineral rocks
Closed 18 x 16 x 3.5 inches
Open 18 x 32 inches
Unique Book
Access a digitized exhibition catalog of "Materias"
(bilingual, in Spanish and English) here
Access a digital facsimile of Esta Mina here
Esta Mina, a one-of-a-kind artist's book, was made for the exhibit, “Materias: Matter and Subject Matter” which took place at the Biblioteca Francisco de Burgoa in Oaxaca, Mexico in the fall of 2015. The title translates as This Mine.
I made Esta Mina in response to early-modern and Enlightenment books from the Burgoa collection. Many of the books in the Burgoa are riddled with wormholes of larvae that nested in them. Likewise, many early modern books embody the classification drive of their time. The aspiration was that Animal, Mineral and Vegetable are neatly organized kingdoms. While the geological force that produced these Minerals can be understood, it cannot be contained as neatly as it might seem.