Ten Ounces, 2015
Ink on Lenox paper, gesso resist, photocopy transfer, book cloth, handmade papers, binders board, custom-made enclosure
Book: 5x3x210 inches
Box: 6x6x8 inches
Unique
Ten Ounces is a collaboration between artist Melanie Mowinski and poet Zack Finch. It began as a conversation about the vessels that lead to and from the heart. It evolved into a poem and an artist book that explores the tension between the importance and impossibility of letting go: especially when faced with a unexpected medical diagnosis or other life challenge. After Finch viewed the painted pages, he edited his poem to 42-lines, the same number of pages in the book, and Mowinski’s age at the time.
To get to the book, the viewer must lift off the top section of the shrine-like box, revealing first one wrapped vessel, which once removed reveals two more wrapped vessels. The two remaining vessels are the 210 inch book and a stone heart. The book is meant to be read while contemplating the heart.
Mowinski used the mysterious and atmospheric quality of photocopy transfer to create the text. The words and letters are very linear, and wind through the more organic and fluid imagery on the pages. This contrast is the heart.
