Iris Wright
Providence, RI
https://iriswrite.com/
https://www.instagram.com/iris.write/
CARRION
2023
artists book (letterpress on Neenah cotton paper using handset type, pressure printing, and linoleum carving; lasercut stardream paper on thread; digitally designed bookcloth; lasercut and carved bookboard; and lokta paper)
9.25in x 12in x 2.25in when open, and 2.75in x 1in x 2.25in
Artist Statement
CARRION tells a concise narrative about seeing omens. It can be read as a linear narrative and further opened by pulling the center spread outward to reveal an inner cityscape with strung celestial objects across five chambers. Its wrap cover snaps shut via magnet, and it is small enough to fit in your pocket when closed. I made this book in an edition of 18, so its version of the city of Providence can live in multiple places simultaneously.
I began writing this book the summer after I graduated college. At my commencement ceremony, the head of the Visual Art Department, Leslie Bostrom, gave a speech on the resilience of sparrows and their ability to thrive anywhere, intending to inspire us young artists to make art in every version of our futures. During that summer I took many walks through Providence, looking for signs that I was on the right path. Repeatedly I encountered dead sparrows at my feet.
Each time, I stopped to say a silent goodbye to these strangers. I interpreted them as signs, perhaps of death, of being in the wrong place, or of my failure to make art in the wake of change. A part of me saw the pattern as challenging me to oppose the omen, by living with intention, by honoring my new city, and by making work that would impress a former version of myself. Perhaps their prophecy is inevitable or unknowable, or perhaps my encounters are coincidence, but interpreting them as omens inspired this eerie homage to my city.