Books, Pages & Tablets by Olivia Parker, January/February 2010

“A tablet can be many things: a message, a slate that has writing to be erased, a blank surface awaiting words or symbols or drawings, an accounting, a poem, a gravestone, proof of identity, or an undecipherable message from another time.”

Olivia Parker’s Books, Pages and Tablets portfolio offers illuminating glimpses of the relationship of the visual and the verbal. Also illuminating is her text, which offers insights into the photographer’s use of light and shadow within compositions of found objects from the realms of history and science.

Olivia Parker, recognized for photographic innovation and experimentation, has created luminous work using a variety of processes and formats since the 1970′s. Her photographs are found in collections including the Chicago Art Institute and the Museum of Modern Art, NY, as well as in books devoted to her work. Her current explorations include her work with books, manuscripts, insects and light.