Amanda Maciuba
Mary Wharff
Northampton, MA
www.amandamaciuba.com
IG: @amandamaymaciuba

riverence point
2023
Japanese stab-bound artist’s book. intaglio, laser-cut relief & polymer plates
6” x 18” (6″ x 30″ open)

Artist Statement

Through first-hand exploration of the visible and invisible marks of human hands on the landscape my creative practice investigates our relationships with the environment over time, forefronting the impacts of human driven climate change. I expose and reconsider the layered histories of specific locations: from the geologic forces that shaped the land, to impacts of indigenous communities and Western colonialism, to the current practices of development, destruction, and restoration by the local communities I interact with every day. I call attention to how human actions and climate change are transforming our current environment, and create a space for mourning and reflection on the environments that are already irrevocably altered beyond repair. As I respond directly to the environment in which I am situated, my work examines and critiques representations of place throughout history, highlighting the current and future state of human-driven climate change.

riverence point is a collaboration between myself and the poet Mary Wharff, which seeks to celebrate the Missouri River watershed. It was inspired by the confluence of the Kaw (Kansas) River and Missouri River in Kansas City, Kansas, and has expanded to consider multiple points within the watershed. This project considers how water shapes human life and how our actions impact river environments. It explores difficult aspects of human relationships with rivers, and at the same time, offers a way to ground our interactions from a more humble place. A place of awe, gratitude, and reciprocity.

Kaw Point and Kansas City occupy the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of Indigenous Peoples. The area has been home to numerous Indigenous Nations going back thousands of years, and also to many tribes relocated to and through the area by force over the last several hundred years due to settler colonialism. These nations have included the Missouria, Kickapoo, Oto, Kanza (also known as Kaw Nation), Osage, Shawnee, and Delaware.

The poem was written by Mary Wharff in January of 2017. The images are a combination of etchings, laser-cut relief prints, and monotypes created and printed on mulberry paper by Amanda Maciuba. The type was printed letterpress in Optima. The book was designed, printed and bound by Amanda Maciuba at In Cahoots Residency in Petaluma, California, in the Summer of 2022.