Tanks & Tablecloths: Chapter Two
Copy Us
H O M E
Welcome
Between Everyday & Arcane
Inside/Outside: A Book in Thirty Parts
The Essence of All Things
British Library Fellowship
Memorial to the Named & the Faceless
L I Z Z I E - R I D O U T
P O R T F O L I O
S K E T C H B O O K
É T U D E S  ~  A - P R E S S
C O N T A C T
Writer's Black / Writer's Block

Victorian etiquette dictated that when in mourning, women should use letters 'edged in black' in all written correspondance. The thickness of the black border around the letter would diminish throughout the period of mourning – often lasting several years for close family members.

 

  Death of a Pencil physically records the demise – through usage – of one 4B Faber-Castell graphite pencil across an A5 pad of standard Basildon Bond Airmail paper. In keeping with the Victorian tradition of edging in black, as the viewer progresses through the writing pad, the graphite border decreases until it vanishes altogether, leaving only blank sheets.

 

The pencil creates its own passing, as well as documenting it. It transforms the surface with which it is most familiar, not with writing, but with oblivion.

 

 

Death of a Pencil (Work in progress) [Graphite on writing paper]   Death of a Pencil (Work in progress) [Graphite on writing paper]   Death of a Pencil (Work in progress) [Graphite on writing paper]   Death of a Pencil (Work in progress) [Graphite on writing paper]   Death of a Pencil (Work in progress) [Graphite on writing paper]
Once More, with Feeling
A Polychromy in Black
The Architecture of Conversation
Women's Studio Workshop Residency
Tanks & Tablecloths: Chapter One
In Absentia
Various Writings
Portable Document
Death of a Pencil