Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Paige Torosantucci

The Economic Death

An illuminated manuscript, handbound with paper made using government cheques, envelopes, newspapers, and other media, representing my anxieties and the ongoing pressure on young adults within Canada's troubling economy.

“The Economic Death serves as a historical record bound by the economic stresses and pressures many Canadians face today. Mimicking the appearance of a medieval manuscript, this book poses as the wealthy status of aged consumerism, constructed from the destruction of consumer media. Each page was made using the pulp of Canadian cheques, government envelopes, newspapers, ads and coupons, creating a rebirth of overwhelming media into tile-like mosaics throughout the page's contents. With some pages decorated with gold floral borders, certain words and phrases emerge, stuck in time, telling the troubling state of the economic pressures in Canada.”