LIBRARY SHELF: Hide and Seek

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Shell, Hannah Rose; Hide and Seek: Camouflage, Photography and the Media of Reconnaissance (2012) ICI Shelf: Barthes’ Tear FIRST LINE: “Here’s one way of not showing up.” LAST LINE: “What predators, real or imagined, might be revealed by a stenciled outline?” ICI HISTORY: First Line: Today at … Continue readingLIBRARY SHELF: Hide and Seek

LIBRARY SHELF: Camouflage

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Leach, Neil; Camouflage (1996) ICI Shelf: Current Project First Line: “In his movie Zelig, Woody Allen depicts a character, Leomard Zelig, who quickly assimilates to those around him, growing a beard in a matter of seconds when surrounded by men with beards, and changing his … Continue readingLIBRARY SHELF: Camouflage

This is Bedlam

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A small plaque on the side of the Great Eastern Hotel in London marks the site of the old Bethlehem Hospital. The sign obscures the other name for the site. As W. G. Sebald schooled us in Austerlitz, at this same place, “the insane and … Continue readingThis is Bedlam

Florentine Codex

excerpt thumbWhat happens when we apply western constructs to non-western archives?

When the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún set out to record the world of the Aztecs in 1540, he complained about “hidden meanings that are unrecognizable.” In Book X of his 12 volume Florentine Codex, written in native Nahua with sections translated to Spanish, he … Continue readingFlorentine CodexContinue readingFlorentine Codex