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Library of Dust

By David Maisel
Essays by Geoff Manaugh,
Terry Toedtemeier,
and Michael Roth

13-1/4 x 17 in; 108 pp ; 80 color photographs
Hardcover
Published in August, 2008
ISBN 9780811863339
ISBN10 0811863336

$80.00  

Library of Dust -- Esteemed photographer David Maisel has created a somber and beautiful series of images depicting canisters containing the cremated remains of the unclaimed dead from an Oregon psychiatric hospital. Dating back as far as the nineteenth century, these canisters have undergone chemical reactions, causing extravagant blooms of brilliant white, green, and blue corrosion, revealing unexpected beauty in the most unlikely of places. This stately volume is both a quietly astonishing body of fine art from a preeminent contemporary photographer, and an exceptionally poignant monument to the unknown deceased.

Photographer David Maisel's work is held in the permanent ­collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others.