Keri Schroeder
San Antonio, Texas
kerischroeder.com
Influxstructure: A Topography of Ghosts
2018
Artist Book – letterpress printing, pressure printing, mixed media
Open: 209*”x38”x1” Closed: 10”x10”x2”
Artist Statement
There is a connection between the natural internal systems within our own bodies, and the manmade external systems that we build into the earth. Influxstructure: A Topography of Ghosts is an exploration of how we use these systems to communicate and navigate space, both on a micro and macro scale.
Influxstructure contains topographical imagery of a nuclear weapons test site, brain synapses, Peruvian Nazca geoglyphs, nervous system, U.S. Highways, the heart and circulatory system. One common element present within all these systems is iron. When the book is closed, iron filings encased in glass gather tightly into a circle over a hidden magnet. The reader’s touch separates the filings from the magnet by opening the cover; the iron scatters into formless dust. Inside, the map-fold variation structure allows images to be peeled back layer by layer, alternating between images of the minuscule to the immense. Letterpress printed text alternates from prose poems on each page to cited research as side-notes. Holes bored through the pages highlight the interconnectivity of the systems.
Each pressure printed image is from a vantage point that is either too close or too far away for the viewer have a complete or clear perspective, either hovering above the earth or deep within our own bodies. There is a connection to be drawn between these monumental and quietly intrinsic spaces. From the Nazca earthworks to our firing brain synapses, we determine consciously or unconsciously what is necessary to remember. We have created complex highway structures to move across the earth while our circulatory system moves blood throughout our bodies; we can locate ourselves on a planet of this size, yet cannot pinpoint where we exist within our own bodies.