HYPOXIA

Society of Hermits, 2022

12” x 12” x 3.5” when closed

12” x 12” x 12” when open

Edition of 10

$1150

Contact to purchase

Imagine a book that breathes.

Every living system needs oxygen, but our breath is threatened. Filled with poison from

pollution and guarded by masks for safety. The term hypoxia refers to a lack of oxygen in living

tissue. Extreme air pollution can cause this. It can also occur if a placenta or umbilical cord is

damaged within the womb.

Mallarmé talked about a gust of wind breathing life into a book. This book examines that most

elementary action by setting up a secondary system, a forced air system that mimics an actnot unlike CPR.

The book is the system. On the surface, a large clamshell box with burnt

branches twisting across the cover. Opening the box reveals a display, like a stage before the

play starts. Stark, simple objects with directions, an apparatus that pumps air, and a delicate

book made of hand-beaten gampi with black flecks of burn fragments foraged from a forest fire

throughout. Turning the pages while pumping, the lightweight pages rise and fall in a simulation

of breath. A feeling of need takes over as the pumping action becomes familiar — a reminder

of the delicacy, fragility of our breath. Hypoxia is a book both personal and public. A rallying cry

in the softest tones.