yes is the only living thing

STATEMENT

yes is the only living thing is a series of 76 images looking at moments of celebration, wonder, and stillness in my own life. Shot the year following a friend’s sudden cancer relapse and near-immediate death, the images echo my attempts to infuse my own life with some of the same determination, thoughtfulness, and grace that was ever-present in her life. As a result, I experienced life more deliberately, and thus, changed the narrative for that year. The series was captured with recently-discontinued peel apart instant film on a fickle hand-me-down Polaroid Reporter camera. I was attracted to the unpredictability of both the film and the camera and how this seemed to echo the unpredictability of life, itself.

–
–

PUBLICATION

yes is the only living thing artist book
perfect bound with hand-embossed cover
5.75″ x 8″ / 150 pages, 76 color images
First edition: 200 copies, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0-9847509-0-0

photographs: Alexandra Silverthorne
text: Julie Poitras Santos
conversation: Annie Mahon
editor: Anna Rutenbeck

printed by Edition One Books (Berkeley, CA)
cover embossed by Michel Droge at Pickwick Independent Press (Portland, ME)

more info / purchase the book »

–
–

INSTALLATION

Maine College of Art – Portland, ME (2019)

–

Field Projects – New York, NY (2024)

–
–

DIALOGUE

2020 – In Conversation with Nathalie von Veh | Jackson Art Center – Washington, DC
2019 – In Conversation with Katherine Hoffman | Dublin Community Center – Dublin, NH
2019 – In Conversation with Julie Poitras Santos and Katarina Weslien | Maine College of Art – Portland, ME
2019 – In Conversation with Jayme McLellan | Civilian Art Projects – Washington, DC

–
–

BOOKSHELF

The Long Now (Uta Barth); Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid (Ann Barham, John Hammock, Alissa Wilson); Long Life Cool White (Moyra Davey); I Looked & Looked (Magali Duzant); The Ongoing Moment (Geoff Dyer); Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (Martin Espada); This Window Makes Me Feel (Robert Fitterman); Journeys of Simplicity (Philip Harnden); Island (Roni Horn); Some of Us Did Not Die (June Jordan); Harold and the Purple Crayon (Crockett Johnson); Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers (Leonard Koren); The Artist as Culture Produce (Sharon Louden); Home (Nicholas Nixon); The Floral Ghost (Susan Orlean and Philip Taaffe); Transfer (E. Brady Robinson); i am a displaced person, the ocean, the ocean (Anna Rutenbeck); Beauty, A Very Short Introduction (Roger Scruton); MidNights (Alexandra Silverthorne); A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Rebecca Solnit); On Longing (Susan Stewart); The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben)

–
–

COLLECTIONS

~ District of Columbia Art Bank, Washington, DC