A large part of my senior project was the creation of a series of four artist's books. I was introduced to the artist's book as a form of expression in an integrative studies class I took called Art and Politics of the Book. My artist's statement and bibliography (below) explain a little more about the process, and the Powerpoint presentation (left) that I gave explicates the theories behind the books. Click on the covers below or on the links on the left to venture inside the books.

           Ritual                         Expression                 Community                Deconstruction

Artist’s Statement

Social justice can mean a large variety of things to a large variety of people.  For some, it is studying economic trends; for others, it is volunteering at a soup kitchen.  My exploration of social justice through the integration of daily ritual, personal expression, community, and gender theory has helped me understand the plurality of ways in which humans do social justice work, and how valuable each action and theory is to building a world of justice and peace.

These four artist’s books each explore one aspect of my own understanding of social justice, and can be read in any order.  The books fold open, inspired by the form used for an earlier book on a heart opening meditation.  Opening the books in such away causes the viewer to interact with the book, engaging in his or her own journey of discovery and opening as they explore ways of doing justice.  The thread that is sewn throughout the books is consistent in color and pattern, signifying a narrative that ties the images, words, and form together.  This narrative is multifaceted and plural, manifesting itself in many different social locations and realities, but it is a basic narrative of humanity nonetheless.  Meaningful ephemera—ranging from cosmetic product wrappers to a ribbon worn in solidarity to stop violence against women—get “caught” beneath the thread just as cultural and communal messages become woven into our personal narratives.  Photographs are layered with vellum, depicting the lived and multi-layered reality of justice in our own lives.

Passages from theorists, scholars, and religious thinkers run parallel to the thread throughout each book, illuminating the actions in the photographs with theory.  My goal is to show the concrete ways in which we can use theories of mindfulness, vocation, theological praxis, community, and post-modern deconstruction in our own lives to enact and enable others to enact social justice.  Without lived experience, theory becomes stale and stagnant.  With lived and integrated theories of justice, we can enable constructive social change on deep personal and communal levels.

Works Cited
Bergvall, Victoria L. and Janet M. Bing. “The Question of Questions: Beyond Binary Thinking.” Language and Gender: A Reader. ed. Jennifer Coates. Boston: Blackwell, 1998. 495-509.

Berry, Wendell. A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1998.

Boston Women’s Health Collective. Our Bodies Ourselves for the New Century: A Book By and For Women. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” The Feminist Philosophy Reader. Ed. Alison Bailey and Chris Cuomo. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 97-107.

Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist Theology. New York: Orbis Books, 2005.

Connell, R.W. Masculinities. Berkeley: U of California Press, 2005.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” The Feminist Philosophy Reader. 279-309.

Eckert, Penelope and Sally McConnell-Ginet. “Communities of Practice: Where Language, Gender, and Power All Live.” Language and Gender: A Reader. Ed. Jennifer Coates. Boston: Blackwell, 1998. 486-494.

Gebara, Ivone. Out of the Depths: Women’s Experience of Evil and Salvation. Trans. Ann Patrick Ware. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

hooks, bell. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge: South End Press, 2000.

Isasi-Díaz, Ada María. “Solidarity: Love of Neighbor in the Twenty-First Century.”Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Orbis Books, 1996. 86-104.

Knitter, Paul F. Introducing Theologies of Religions. New York: Orbis Books, 2006.

Kohls, Robert L. “Commentary on the List of Basic American Values.” 1988.

LaDuke, Winona. Address on “The Deconstruction of the Empire.” St. Olaf College, Northfield. 5 Nov. 2007.

Leonhardt, David and Janny Scott. “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide.” Class Matters. Correspondents of the New York Times. New York: Times Books, 2005. 1-26.

Lugones, Maria C. and Elizabeth V. Spelman. “Have We got a Theory for You!” Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality: The Big Questions. Ed. Naomi Sack, Laurie Shrage, Crispin Sartwell. Boston: Blackwell, 1998. 374-389.

Nhat Hanh, Thich. Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World. New York: Free Press, 2003.

Nhat Hanh, Thich. The Miracle of Mindfulness. Boston: Beacon Press, 1975.

Palmer, Parker J. Let Your Life Speak. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Rich, Adrienne. “Ritual Acts.” The School Among the Ruins. New York: Norton, 2000. 56-61.