Vestiges, Book & Installation, 1992-94
8" x 10" x 1.5”, Limited Edition of 20
Silk Paper, Xerox, Manipulated Silver-prints

Vestiges was first exhibited in 1992 as a site-specific installation at The Southwest Craft Center, San Antonio, Texas. For this work, Grant incorporates a limited edition artist's book with a mixed-media installation to examine issues surrounding animal welfare. Combining text, medical illustrations of animal hearts with the human heart, the bookwork powerfully addresses the misrepresentation and commodification of animals.  The surrounding installation of three-dimensional elements supports and enhances issues addressed in the book.

The bookwork is displayed on an altar-like table in the center of the installation.  A computer-synthesized sound track by artists Paul DeMarinis and Laetitia Sonami from their 1991 performance, Mechanization Takes Command emanates from beneath the altar where the book is displayed.

The combination of text and imagery suggests a critical consciousness that focuses on moral and ethical principles and concurrently questions traditional cultural belief systems.  The surrounding installation of three-dimensional elements supports and enhances issues addressed in the book.

The photographs in the book and installation are original silver-prints of medical illustrations manipulated using a variety of processes--sand paper, solvent transfers and conté crayon--and are mounted on silk paper.  The lush textural quality of the manipulated hearts creates a seductive veneer that deliberately overpowers and obliterates the text. 

Vestiges was originally installed in a gallery space with four walls. From floor to ceiling, the walls contained texts applied with powdered tempura paint through a stencil.

The texts consist of animal's names repeated 31,000 times juxtaposed randomly with the word "murder." The repetitive rows of words are emotionally powerful and overwhelming in their symbolically vulnerable and translucent state.

Six 60" x 72" segmented crosses, each representing a specific animal, are mounted above the walls texts along with 72 votive candles. 

The crosses consist of hand-manipulated silver-prints mounted on aluminum.  The shape of the cross echoes the symbol used by the Red Cross.  

Acquisitions: Contact Conduit Gallery
Exhibitions: Contact Susan kae Grant

In 1993 Vestiges was re-designed into a 30’x40’ free-standing structure. The second configuration consisted of metal studs with electric votives and mini-spots and walls lined with chicken wire. The structure was enclosed with walls of plastic sheeting attached to the chicken wire. The sheeting contained stenciled texts, of animal names juxtaposed with the word murder, from floor to ceiling. Each of the six crosses from the earlier installation were attached to the chicken wire with distressed c-clamps.

Regardless of its structure, the Vestiges book and installation is dark, evocative and ritualistic, the mood undeniably spiritual. The haunting imagery brings the issues of animal welfare to the forefront of public discourse.

For a more complete description of the Vestiges project navigate to “Vestiges” under the “Book Arts” tab on this website.