Tactile Encyclopedia Artist Book

9"x9"x2", April 2023

The Tactile Encyclopedia is a non-traditional artist book exploring materials, both organic and manufactured, human and machine. Each page is bound by hand-stitching and is a tactile learning, ‘reading’, experience. The binding is fully hand-stitched because the book is designed to be taken apart, have materials added as further pages, and bound back together; it’s a growing encyclopedia of materials, techniques, and ideas.

Includes 3D printed designs for the front and back cover, cotton gauze, machine embroidery, bubble wrap, sandpaper, wool knit and felting, plastic, chiffon, and hair.

There are several sources of inspiration for this page, the primary being a fashion designer I admire: Alexander McQueen. In the early years of his career, McQueen put small plastic bags containing a lock of his own hair sewn into the lining of pieces he made, as a sort of signature, which is part of what my hair page intends to do. As the last page in the Tactile Encyclopedia, this mirrors the first page with my name inscribed and is a signature, marking the work as mine. Additionally, hair and hair clippings symbolically represent death, another reason McQueen used his hair in his work - many of the themes he focused on in his designs centered on death; hair was a Memento Mori symbol in his work. This has its origins in 19th century Victorian hair art, in which a loved one or deceased relative might be immortalized by a lock of their hair being made into jewelry. Hair as a reminder of mortality and a signature on my work is my intention with this page, as I am the original creator of the book but it may live on after my death.