Words tend to be inadequate

Words Tend to be Inadequate is the culmination of an exploration into the creation of authentic artifacts representing one’s surroundings. This experimental book-making study investigates how geographic limitations can influence aesthetic, content-based, and process-based outcomes. The curation of materials, processes, and content is optimized to document the local environment, transforming each book into a record of the natural and human elements shaping the identity of its place of creation. The content of these books is intricately molded by their surroundings, utilizing found materials that focus on traditional notions of the natural world or human constructions of culture and society. Constructed within these intentional limitations, the books serve as documentation of the specific place and time of their creation.

The first book emerges from the conversion of handwritten text found in graffiti or on chalkboards of empty classrooms into lead-type compositions. Posters designed for local event awareness serve as the recycled backdrop for its pages.

The second book is entirely appropriated from the wilderness of Athens. Utilizing deer hide as a framework, found objects such as plants, stones, wasp hives, bark, etc., convey the message in place of text. Printed with ink made from walnuts, the message is left open to interpretation, unbound by common forms of communication.