Abyss Lessons (Pre-Order)

Abyss Lessons | Almannagjá
Paste Paper, stencil, letterpress, binders board

While reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, all I could think about was the faith Lidenbrock had that he would find a way out of his adventure and, that his supplies would last. I understood that this was a work of fiction, so I knew it would work out. The focus of the book was discovery, exploring, and the excitement of these things, versus the fear of them.

Iceland for me is Lidenbrock’s story and Almannagjá, a gorge created by the North American tectonic plate breaking free from the Eurasian tectonic plate. When I encountered this wild element, my life, my humanity at once felt small and called to go deeper into the breaks.

The letterpress text on the jagged flagbook flags, explores this yearning, and embraces what I call “wilderness mindset” and going into the “breaks” in our lives. This book addresses bravery and understands that uncertainty is part of the process.

The text comes from snippets and re-combinations of my own writing with bits from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, a book that chronicles an exploration into the depths of Snæfell, the largest freestanding mountain in Iceland.

TEXT SIDE LEFT:

Abyss lessons
mitigate the vertigo

ask
what lies beneath

imagine
Ruhmkorff’s apparatus

progress
towards the art of
high contemplation

TEXT SIDE RIGHT:  

the break

reveals rifts

penetrate the cracks
seek

do not be afraid of passing
into a state of fusion–

Available for pre-order. Price will increase once the book is editioned and ready for regular sale. Anticipated completion date, late June 2021.