Jenn Law
Toronto, ON
www.jennlaw.com
Instagram: @jenn_rose_law

Spent
2023
Archival ink jet prints on kozuke paper of letterpress printed Calathea (prayer plant) leaves, hand-bound with embossed cloth cover.
9” x 6” x 2”

Artist Statement

For the past two years, I have been letterpress printing short poetic texts and correspondences onto the leaves and petals of living botanical specimens, contemplating our entanglement with plants and the precarious balance between giving and taking in relation to the “more-than-human” world. Each plant species responds in its own unique way. Some hold onto my words indefinitely, preserving and healing around the outer edges of each passage. Others edit the texts out of themselves slowly over time, leaving letter-shaped cavities where the words were once held. My artist’s book “Spent” documents 55 letterpress printed Calathea (Prayer Plant) leaves, each embossed with a repeated small “asking” and left to decay, transforming and partly obscuring the text in the process. Each leaf serves as a votive offering of sorts; the fulfilment of each request deemed enacted (i.e. “spent”) in its printing. For exhibition purposes, this book may be handled by the public and includes an “Index poem” listing the full collection of numbered small askings and their corresponding texts (for example, “hold me,” “pick me”, “kiss me”, etc).