Faculty of Art

Cross-Disciplinary Art: Publications

Leah Benetti

literatur

Using discarded library materials and covers left over from burned books, I reflect on the role of libraries, the act of book burnings, and examine how we preserve information in book form while simultaneously destroying it.

“I shot a roll of film over the course of one day. I worked in the library that morning, and seeing as that day was the spring equinox, a community cleansed their Christmas trees in a spectacular bonfire and I happened to attend the celebration. When I developed the negatives & looked at what had been captured, I saw an implied and celebrated bookburning, and it caused me to reflect on real bookburnings I had been a part of in my own past. This is a question moreso than an answer. The first book burning was after somebody close to me died, my friend and I inherited, among many other books, some unabridged dictionary of unabridged dictionaries. It was thick to say the least. Our stove broke back then, but we had a firepit in the backyard. One night three of us took turns ripping out the pages and offering them to the fire. We read definitions and fragments of definitions as they were consumed until we couldn’t read any more. There were illustrations and it was fascinating when all the meanings became lost. I don’t think we ever got through the whole book. We did continue using it for firestarter. The second time was by the lake with another dear friend. Her father’s partner had gone through the bookshelves because there was mildew from the many years they’d spent on the cottage shelves. My friend and I saved the covers, and we all sat around playing music and feeding bookblocks to the flames. I chose the cover literatur from the second burn. It is Coptic bound with flax paper, mylar, and found library material from my time at OCAD’s library over the past 7 months. The contents are cyanotype and rc darkroom prints. The library pockets are organized in correct call number order, so the damage can be referenced in the library.”