Marking Time
A black, vacuum-formed rotary plastic phone projects out from the cover of April Katz’s book,” Marking Time: Her Days,” a work that alludes to memory and time’s passage. Inside, each of the days of the month of April has its own transparent page that includes entries from fifteen years of her mother’s handwritten appointment books, a Shakespearean quote, a photographic image of her desk chair, and a reproduction of that day’s cover from Newsday, the paper she read daily. Each Sunday has an additional page layered on top of it that includes a photograph of a telephone and a short narrative that conveys the important role Sundays had in this mother/daughter relationship. The front page of the New York Times replaces the Newsday cover for each Sunday. The binding of the book plays a key role in establishing the rhythm of the days’ passage with odd days bound on the left side, even days bound on the right side and Sundays bound on top with a spiral binding reminiscent of a phone cord. The side bindings are like the binding of her original appointment books. When closed the pages will sit on top of each other so that the days to come will be visible. The act of reading the book is like an “unweaving” of the pages.
2003, Artist’s Book, 32 cm x 26 cm
Collections:
University of Delaware Yale University Indiana University Virginia Commonwealth University Williams College
Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College