Shedding Light explores the book as a tactile object in the extreme and the importance of light and touch within the reading process. Taking away the book’s usual visual narrative clues, the seeing reader is left with little traditional visual information with which to decode the presented ‘text’, but instead is faced with a Braille text implicitly inviting them to feel the narrative. A ‘key’ is provided in the form of a visual Braille alphabet card to assist readers to dicepher the Braille and read the narrative that is hidden from conventional view. However, through a thorough physical exploration of the book, the reader may (or may not) discover a textual narrative on the reverse of the page. By shedding light through the page (the book easily slips out of its ‘felt’ cover and can be held up to the light), the sighted reader is given a textual translation of the Braille, emphasising the need for light within the reading process. The ambiguous title, “Shedding Light” relates to both the ‘loss of light’ implied by the Braille, as well as the ‘casting of light across’ the book needed to complete the text-based reading.
Signed Edition of 150.
ISBN: 0-9546942-7-9
Heather Weston, 2005
Offset lithography, blind debossing. ‘Felt’ cover. 140mm x 170mm.
