An exquisite book by artist Whitney McVeigh, compiled of writings transcribed from notebooks, journals and letters made over three decades. It includes texts of artists and writers who have informed her work, alongside poems, drawings and photographs by the artist. The book explores far-ranging metaphysical truths and looks at the role symbols and metaphors play in human life. Woven throughout are hints of the past and an account of the building of a library that took ten years.
Sylph Editions is proud to present this heartfelt philosophical meditation by an artist whose work is firmly embedded in memory, spiritual practice and the imagination.
Whitney McVeigh (b. New York, 1968) is a visual artist best known for her paintings and installations. Over a twenty-year period she has amassed a collection of found objects distinguished by their unique patternations and histories. As an artist, she acts as custodian of these ‘markers’, entrusting them to reflect and spur philosophical understandings of history, time and memory.
McVeigh has travelled extensively and has held residencies around the world, including in Japan, China, Brazil and South Africa, where she developed the body of paintings Archaeology of Memory. Her installation Divine Rules was displayed at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles in 2018 as part of the exhibition Plato in LA: Contemporary Artists’ Visions. She lives and works in France.