COLOPHON: "The text in this books is derived from Riparian Lands of the Mississippi River, a collection of essays and discussions regarding river navigation, levee systems and related topics compiled by Frank Tompkins in 1901. Excerpts using pronouns her and she were located throughout the source text and reassembled to produce a new narrative. The final text, an erasure poem, reflects the missing feminine voice in the telling of this history.
MISS was letterpress printed on Arches Text Wave and handmade linen/hemp cover paper on a Vandercock 3 Proofing Press Illustrated with ink drawings, polymer plates and linoleum by Sara White at the University of Alabama.
Alluvium Press Spring 2015."
Artist's statement: "MISS addresses the industrialization of the Mississippi River Valley from an ecofeminist perspective. The drum-leaf binding resembles a field notebook to mimic those used by engineers in the early twentieth century. I used the book Riparian Lands of the Mississippi River (1901) as my source text and drew ink-wash illustrations from a few of its photographs and diagrams, which were scanned and letterpress printed using photopolymer. I created an erasure poem after extracting all passages that use the pronouns her and she from a pdf of the book. The authors only use these words to describe structures, cities, or nature in this book of essays championing river industry in the South. I used my own handwriting to create a new narrative about her, which is intended to parallel the control and oppression of the landscape to that of the female body/voice"--Vamp and Tramp Booksellers website, viewed October 24, 2016.