This artwork is a tribute to our planet and a lament for what we stand to lose. This hand-cut set of the World Book Encyclopedia highlights the intersection of two endangered elements: the natural components of Earth and the printed knowledge that once sought to preserve them. Encyclopedias are books that once represented the vast repository of human understanding and are now relics in a digital age, just as many of Earth’s ecosystems and species are fading into memory.
It took me 2 years to scissor-cut all 20 volumes from this 1976 set of encyclopedias.
2023
36 x 15 x 15 inches
This hand-cut artwork displays on a shelf or pedestal.
Collection of Darla Moore
