I YOU ME (2015 & 2019 Editions)
As a massive accordion-style artist book, I YOU ME was first staged in 2015 as a participatory, performative project within the literary arts community of the Kelly Writers House of Philadelphia. Materially manifesting the dynamics between self and other, the book was conceived as a bodily installation showcasing public expression of selves within spheres of multiplicity, as a community of existence. The book’s spreadable, interconnected folds have zig-zagged across floors, in which the personal pronouns of “I”, “YOU”, and “ME” have been replicated in graphic, charcoal scribbles on each book leaf only to be reworked—erased, smudged, redrawn, and rewritten—again, in charcoal. Public participants engaged each other via writing and drawing.
The book was later re-staged in 2019 within a gallery room among a visual arts community at Olio Projects (Hot Bed Gallery) in Philadelphia, where graffitied layers were continually added and modified from the existing content.
click right >
First sponsored by the 2014–2015 Kerry Sherin Prize of the Kelly Writers House. Installation views at Kelly Writers House Arts Cafe, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2015.