New Public Art Project - Book Stack Poems - Debuts at Library Square

Book Stack Poems by Carol Sawyer debuts on January 23rd, 2008.

The Aperture Project consists of three over-sized printed artworks within the 13 large rectangular apertures on the third and fourth levels of the Library’s Promenade. The work, installed at the Library for a period of seven months, features dramatic images that play with the idea that a stack of books might be read as a poem.

Ms. Sawyer sees the library’s collections as a kind of indirect portrait of Vancouver.

"Collectively, we have altered and shaped these objects through our handling of them. These photographs are inspired by and echo the activities of library patrons and staff such as browsing, reading, sorting, gathering and cataloguing."

In creating her work, Ms. Sawyer says she combed the Library for books with titles that were visually strong and textually intriguing and photographed books that seemed potentially useful.

"I value the serendipitous discoveries that can be made in the library. The book that you didn’t know you were looking for that you find while looking for something else, leading you to a new idea or unexpected connection. There are some discoveries that can only be made by spending time in the physical presence of books, walking among the stacks."

Carol Sawyer is a singer and visual artist working primarily with photography, installation, video and improvised music. She has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across Canada and in the United States and her work has been collected by the Canada Council Art Bank and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. She lives and works in Vancouver, BC.

This Aperture Project is part of the Inside the Library project for January 2008 - December 2009 curated by Karen Love, called Memory Palace: Three Artists in the Library. Memory Palace has received additional support to date from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Consulate Général de France and the Vancouver Foundation. Presented through a partnership of the Vancouver Public Library and the Vancouver Public Art Program, the programs showcase talented and innovative artists and engage diverse audiences of library users by providing a visual art presence in the library.

NOTE: Digital images of the work are available to media upon request.

Media contact: Marya Gadison
Coordinator of Marketing and Communications
Vancouver Public Library
604-331-3681
maryagad@vpl.ca