IN THE DARK
It has been said that what is done in the dark will one day be brought to light. But what happens when light never comes?
In the Dark explores the complexities of grief and reconciliation when justice remains out of view. Using redactions from the Mueller Report as a placeholder for the ongoing miscarriage of justice in American politics, these pages hold space to ponder what information has been lost or may never be known. They are a place to turn inward, sit with grief, feel the weight of one's own anger, and in time contemplate a way forward.
Bound as a Medieval girdle book, this work muddles an already murky separation of church and state. While historically these portable volumes often contained religious scripture, In the Dark uses governmental reporting to critique how politics have become religion for an expanding demographic. In this book, darkness and light contradict their known meanings. Excised redactions illuminate what has been concealed, leaving behind the literal shreds of evidence. Worn at the waist to always be close at hand, this girdle book structure serves as an ever present reminder to the burden of obstruction of justice on the body politic.
More than 1/3 of the 448 page Mueller Report includes redactions. In the Dark contains each of these pages hand cut in documented order with nearly 1,000 redactions in total. The text pages are waxed black pigmented overbeaten abaca handmade by the artist. The book is bound over double raised cords laced into quarter sawn white oak wooden boards with sewn endbands and is covered in black suede with brass embellishments. It is housed in an archival document box in the same manner as a Medieval manuscript might be stored in a library vault. This book is, by its own account, an artifact of modern American history.
Book Dimensions
6 x 4.25 x 1.75 inches (closed)
14 x 4.25 x 1.75 inches (closed, including extension)
14 x 9.25 x 1.75 inches (open, including extension)
Box Dimensions
8.5 x 5.5 x 3 inches
Edition of 10 + 2 artist proofs
2024
$5,000 (final copy)
in the NEWS
In the Dark is a 2024 finalist for the MCBA Prize! Learn more about the MCBA Prize here.
COLLECTIONS
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
Bowdoin College
Colorado College
Florida State University
Georgetown University
Swarthmore College
University of Florida
University of Miami
Virginia Commonwealth University
Private Collections
The Mueller Report Addendum
The Mueller Report Addendum is a companion piece to In the Dark. It is a leather bound Medieval long and link stitch binding containing the templates used to hand-cut the 900+ redactions found within In the Dark. In order to paginate the book in correct order with the redactions forward facing, the recto pages are printed right reading, while the verso pages are printed in reverse (their text can be read when held to light). This addendum will be of use to those wishing to do scholarly analysis of In the Dark, as well as those wishing to contextualize the redactions alongside the text within the report. The template pages are printed on standard copy paper and have been sewn into black buffalo cowhide leather with a leather strap closure.
Book Dimensions
5.75 x 4.5 x 1.75 inches (closed)
Edition of 10 + 2 artist proofs
2024
$395 (included with purchase of artist book)