Still Standing, Standing Still.

Photographs by Lauren Henkin.

Lauren Henkin, 2012. NP, illustrated throughout, 7x7".

It is with great pleasure and pride that I present my third handmade book, Still Standing, Standing Still.

This series began in 2010 when I became obsessed with a single tree. Slowly — around and around and around — I examined it in varying light and perspective. It was alone, with its scars unclothed, threatened by vines, but still standing. A branch had broken off by lighting or another violent act. The tree didn’t seem to mind, the flaw added to its power, a permanent reminder that it had survived the violation and was unashamed of the defect.

I became attached to it. When we met, another relationship was ending, I had moved 3,000 miles across the country from the safety of my family, and my own body was being scaled by a threatening growth. It foreshadowed what I would cope with soon to come, my own marks, the scars I now wear both emotional and literal. And yet, despite my respect for it, I was selfish and took what I wanted for myself, a model for how to preserve and survive.

My goal for the book was to lead the viewer through the same experience I had in photographing the tree — an opportunity to get lost in the object itself, in the layers of complexity discernible only by looking closer and closer.

This book would not have been possible without the brilliant guidance and skill of bookbinder Rory Sparks and woodworker Chris Held. I am grateful to both of you.

Lauren Henkin design, photography, pigment printing
Rory Sparks design, bookbinding, letterpress printing
Chris Held design and woodworking
Cover Paper cave paper
Interior Paper hahnemühle museum etching rag
Chine Collé Print pigment with kitakata on aquarelle rag

About the Limited Edition:
A limited edition of 10 books are presented in a handmade maple/white oak display box and a loose print.

Read Lauren Henkin's statement on the Limited Edition here

Ordering Information

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ZF042-LTD Limited Edition is no longer available.

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