Radicle Papyrus

Description

Part 1:
For RADICLE PAPYRUS, Julia Goodman makes papyrus out of beets using bold colors and diverse symmetries that exist underground. Her continued interests in mortality and scarcity influence her use of delicate materials. The work establishes the existence of overlapping territory between the history of papermaking and the root vegetable. The exhibit includes related sound collaborations with Scott Cazan.

Part 2:
“With the abundance of paper used today throughout the world in books, magazines, and newspaper and for writing, it is difficult to conceive that there was a period of thousands of years when true paper did not exist. At the present time it would be impossible for civilization to endure, even for a day, the total lack of paper – a material that is as little understood by the average consumer as it is indispensable.”

Dard Hunter, Papermaking: The History & Technique of An Ancient Craft (1943)

Artist Statement
My work originates from my investigation into the materials used before the widespread availability of paper, known as pre-paper technologies. Using this root vegetable and its incredible staining powers, I explore the different steps in the papyrus making process. The result is a thin, transparent, skin-like, intensely colored material. There’s something simple and satisfying about repositioning a material and letting light come through something that grows underground.

More Info

Link

http://18reasons.org/calendar.php