Description: This portable manuscript recounts the six days of Creation as written in the Book of Genesis1. But holes soon begin to appear in the pages and then multiply, making the text increasingly difficult to read. These lacunae are in fact the silhouettes of extinct animal species, wiped out by human activity within my own lifetime. Their absence undermines the meaning and integrity of the text: By punching holes in the web of life, we are destroying something sacred, the original Book of Creation, without which all our scriptures are meaningless.
The title (“book I”) suggests, however, that this story isn’t over. The next book remains to be written. What will we make of it?
Materials: Mineral pigments on paper, hand-cut and coptic-bound with linen thread. Cover: Painted paper and olive-waste “leather”.
Size: 13x18 cm closed, 26x18 cm open.
Completed: 5 January 2024.
Studio price: £800 in response to this email, plus shipping. A limited edition of 10 reproductions (hand-cut facsimile, also coptic-bound but with a plain cover in waxed paper) will be available from £200 (I can take pre-orders but they will be ready in late February).
Note: The mineral pigments occasionally imprint or rub on the opposite page. This is commonly observed in historical manuscripts due to the friction between pages and it’s a mark of authenticity, not a defect. This effect does not occur in the printed reproductions.
This Arabic version is used in the Coptic Bible today. The script is based on a 9th-century example loosely referred to as "Christian Kufi", found in the earliest dated Arabic translation of the Bible (Sinai Ar. 155, British Library Or. 8612 and others). I have slightly formalised it and given it more consistency for this project.