Shadow: Travelogue

By Marlene MacCallum
Ameliasburg, Ontario, Canada: Marlene MacCallum, 2021. Edition of 25.
Dimensions (open): 7.25 x 10.5 inches (page), 7.25 x 21 inches (open page spread). Dimensions (closed): 7.375 x 10.625 x .5 inches. Hand bound book work, with hard covers of coated digital pigment prints wrapped around eterno boards. The codex structure consists of alternating pages of images and poems (digital pigment prints on digital aya paper) and handset letterpress on gampi paper. The pages are folded at the foredge and bound together by a concertina of gampi paper. Signed and numbered by the artist.
Marlene MacCallum: "'Travelogue’ is the fourth and final canto of the Shadow Quartet. Whereas the first three cantos each had a specific event, discovery or phenomena as the catalyst, ‘Travelogue’ is the result of my longstanding ambivalence towards travel. This is a travel monologue about two parallel and unavoidable journeys; the daily journey we take through the cycle of a day and the lifelong journey we embark upon from the point at which we gain awareness of our own mortality. I began working with this idea in 2019. The reality of COVID-19 lockdowns became a conducive context for focusing on this extended piece.
“‘Travelogue’ references the fourteen Stations of the Cross. The fourteen stations lead the observant through key events of life's final journey, from knowledge of impending death to the resting stage. The occurrences along the way echo the struggles and conflicts most of us experience over the course of our lives. I am an atheist and do not subscribe to any formal belief system, but I was raised within the Catholic religion. This piece integrates my secular images of household and house-like elements and my poetry into a codex structure. The format of the piece provides a relatively straightforward pairing of images and words, with some unfolding variations along the way. I have created my own title for each station to create a personal and contemplative experience. Each image is a stanza, each poem is a resting space. Interestingly, the term stanza has its root in the Italian for station. The words and images take a sinuous path through the unfolding page spreads and resolve in a sonnet about beginnings."