American River.
Philadelphia, PA: Luminice Press, 2022. Oblong 16mo. (24)pp double-sided accordionfold. One of twelve copies, signed by both artists. When opened in one direction, the book displays a series of two-page spreads juxtaposing, at left, earlier legislative acts granting or ensuring progressive freedoms, regulations, and resposibilities, with, at right, recent bills and Supreme Court decisions that have negated those progressions. The reader must simultaneously confront past and present: the 1970 Clean Air Act with the SCOTUS's curtailment of the EPA in 2022; the Sullivan Act of 1911 with the 2022 Court decision to deem certain requirements around concealed carry unconstitutional; Roe v. Wade (1973) with Dobbs v. Jackson (2022); the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, which opened the door to the introductions of hundreds of voter supression laws; and, as a poignant conclusion, the 14th Amendment with George Floyd's "I can't breathe." A wide-ranging critique of the present chaos and cruelty of the United States government, and an implicit indictment of the shortcomings of the good faith actions of previous generations. Tying together the narrative are the illustrations on the reverse side of the accordion, where six two-page pochoir spreads show a river becoming rockier and, as the reader reaches the end, drying up. The imagery evokes both the metaphorical sense of the erosion of rights and freedoms and also the literal impact of climate change, writ obvious through one of the most iconic feature of American terrain. Bound in black paper over boards with oil-based pochoir river motifs on both covers. Washi linen spine. Fine. Item #32237
Price: $1,500.00