Abigail Reynolds (2) (1975–)

Lost Libraries: Abigail Reynolds' Art Journey impressively captures the spirit of the BMW Art Journey project which offers artists the opportunity to undertake journeys of creative discovery to a destination of their choice. Reynolds' well-conceived adventure, beautifully presented in this fully immersive book, involved a series of visits to former libraries along the path of the ancient Silk Road from China to Turkey, and then beyond, to additional sites in Italy and Egypt.

This book comes at an appropriate point in time when our immersion in a digital world seems to be deepening at an accelerated pace. Lost Libraries celebrates the written word in tangible form, be it books or ancient scrolls, and the repositories that house them. Reynolds' love of books and libraries shines throughout. She describes what she finds at these sites where libraries no longer exist, and what has been lost from them. She traveled from site to site via motorbike often along dusty and difficult roads, and those rides are an integral part of this story. Her writing is evocative and insightful, musing on the journey and the often dodgy accommodations along the way. Via the Ricoh CP Clicker (Clickable Paper) app, portions of the text are available as audio clips read by Reynolds.

Beyond the fine writing, her art takes two forms: film shot during the journey and artwork/sculptures created afterwards to commemorate the journey. Reynolds shot sixteen millimeter motion picture film using the big and bulky Bolex camera which she lugged throughout the journey. Reynolds chose film rather than video to document her trip as the medium to best mimic the fragility of books and libraries; analog film also serving as a counter to the digital video format. And an interesting quirky feature of Bolex film is the large physical hole in the final frame of the spool; viewed as a still photo, there is a glaring void, eerily symbolic of what has been lost from these libraries. Selected film footage can also be viewed with the CP Clicker app. Stills from the Bolex film and photos of the artwork are presented on glossy pages on at the front and back of the book, respectively. Additional illustrations include artfully-composed photos taken along the way, many of which zero in on architectural or artistic detail.… (altro)