keeping up appearances

"Keeping Up Appearances" is part of an ongoing series of letterpress printed poetic texts on the leaves and petals of wild and domestic plants. This way of working emphasizes process over finished outcome, fostering a kind of correspondence with botanical subjects. Plants are chosen seasonally, each responding to the written interventions in unique ways—some edit the words out of themselves, obscuring the text over time; while others preserve the verses, holding onto them even in states of decay. Printing on living materials fosters an engagement of care, requiring that I create in a responsive and collaborative way. Printed on sugar maple leaves in the early autumn, "Keeping Up Appearances" focuses on the ways we hide or mask our vulnerabilities in public. Printed en masse as ephemeral correspondences, the leaves are intended to be given away; left anonymously to be found in shared spaces (on park benches and fences)--or posted to correspondents in various parts of the world.