Giovanni’s Room - A Series
Giovanni’s Room (2019)
Two Hand Bound Hardcover Books with printed interiors
Two editions of 21 Books
"Giovanni's Room" is a paired set of hand-bound artist books. Within the respective pairing the two books each contain an approximation of Baldwin's original text, with one containing both the original text and the artist's annotations and the other totally devoid of Baldwin's presence, completely removing the author's original words and leaving only the artist's annotations written in response to the original. The resulting pairing references the exchange of a relationship and the reckoning of queer intimacy and one's own acceptance of oneself.
Giovanni’s Room (2020/2021)
Hand-Bound Hardcover Book with zeroxed and Risograph printed interiors, and Loose Risographed inserts.
Edition of 50 books
Giovanni’s Room (2020/2021) is a reconsideration of James Baldwin’s eponymous novel in an attempt to reckon with and reapproach the text and my initial handling of it in the fall of 2019. In the time between these two versions, I experienced for the first time what I thought was love and the statements I made in the margins of my first edition from 2019 didn’t necessarily hold true or properly represent the love I had come to experience. I, as a person, had changed, my perspective shifted, and I came to have a different understanding of the text and its impact. This new edition is a version of myself, a conduit which has grown alongside my own life and captures my evolving sense of self.
In my first iteration of this work, I created a paired edition of books which I saw as a surrogate representation of a pair of lovers. With this first edition the annotated scrawl from one was imprinted into the other; one containing both Baldwin’s text and my annotations and the other containing only my annotations, removed from the essential context of Baldwin’s text. The constant between these works is its emphasis on love and one’s understanding of its impact and implications. This new edition exists as a singular object but contains the words included in the prior edition of the work, allowing me to both reckon with my initial annotations and the original words of Baldwin.
My cast of characters, most prominently I. and B., exist in the margins of Baldwin’s text, living amongst David and Giovanni. I wanted this edition to contain the love and the touch of the person I had just separated from and look to Baldwin’s text because of the expression of love, or love approximate, it contains. I understand the limitations of looking to a text which was written in a different time and under different societal conditions, but it's statement on self-acceptance, and the love or hatred of oneself, still holds weight and truth. I use the text as an outlet to contain my own meditations on love, and like a diary it holds a form of my inner dialogue, acting somewhat as a recording device or a memory tool. This edition serves as a site I can look back to and trace my development, my evolving understanding of selfhood and the way I approach love and its representation.
