ESTRUCTURA DEL TEXTO
ESTRUCTURA DEL TEXTO
2015
Canvas, linen embroidery floss, aluminum, and adhesives
Closed 12.5 x . 9.5 x 2 inches
Open 12.25 x 17.75 inches
Fully extended 12.25 x 136 inches
Estructura del Texto, 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 structure of the text.
Access a digitized exhibition catalogue of "Materias"
(bilingual, in Spanish and English) here
Access a digital facsimile of Estructura del Texto here
Read more about Estructura del Texto below...
The page: a rectangle.
Letters on the rectangle: text on the page.
The page is a structure. The loom is a structure.
The page and the loom are siblings.
The page and the loom are vessels for rhythm.
Cloth is made through rhythm.
Writing-sewing arises from rhythm.
Weaving and writing-sewing: rhythm rhythm rhythm.
The process of weaving is etymologically linked to the root of the word text. Both text and textile come from Texere, which in Latin means “to weave.”
Text, as the etymological sibling of textile, at its root, holds the image of a loom, of threads passing through a structure from one end to another to generate a weaving.
This book, amongst others in “Materias: Matter and Subject Matter,” was the culmination of two years of research where I studied pre- and early-modern books, housed at the Burgoa Library. The books came from deaccessioned monasteries in the state of Oaxaca. My work in the exhibit addresses, amongst other things, longstanding interests in the interrelated histories of the book, of writing, and of textiles.