Covers of the book. You can see part of some pages.

Back cover and covers opened.

Covers opened, you can see the first pages.

The first pages opened, the book begins to be unfolded, you can see one of the central pages.

The book unfolded.

 
Mónica Goldstein (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
artebus.net

My Beginning, My End
2014
Ink on Japanese paper Macau, Golden Panda
Unique work
119 cm x 104 cm x 1 cm open
17.5 cm x 51.5 cm x 1 cm closed

The starting point for this book is drawings and photographs taken among the mountains in the Argentine Puna, in the Andes. Or was the starting point the quietness all around me and inside me?

I worked in my atelier seeking to recreate in my drawings what I felt was essential, under that sky and surrounded by the mountains: silence, a time that passed in an unusual way. I remembered readings about the circularity of time —a concept masterly expressed in the two lines by T. S. Eliot I copied in the front endpaper. They are the first and the last line in No. 2 of the Four Quartets, East Coker: In my beginning is my end and In my end is my beginning.
I account for that circularity in the front and back covers, with a drawing which also continues on the first page when the book is opened and is repeated on the last page.

This book is part of a group of works revolving around the idea of Mythical or legendary Realms. They are places for peace and prosperity. In general, they were model societies, many times located in mountainous areas. In these myths, it is possible to see the expression of human desire for a good, satisfactory life.
In certain traditions, they are considered not a physical place but the foundation for a state of development which exists potentially for every human being.