Sorted Books: Wood Street Library
Afterlives of the Rich and Famous, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
"Sorted Books" is my longest ongoing project. It began in 1993 and has taken place on many different sites over the years, including in the private homes of friends, in rare book libraries, and in the archives of important literary figures. The process is the same in every case: I sort through a collection of books, make note of particular titles, and eventually group the books into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence. The final results are most often shown as photographs of the book clusters, but on occasion, I exhibit the grouped books themselves. Taken as a whole, the clusters are a cross-section of that library's holdings that function as a kind of portrait.
The Wood Street Library lies in London’s northeast neighborhood of Walthamstow. One of the town’s regional branch libraries was slated for closure and demolition, as the 1950s-era building was deemed too expensive to renovate and too costly to run. Local governance had therefore decided to move the library to another location, which met with mixed reactions from locals, many of whom were very attached to the Wood Street Library and extremely sorry to see it go.
I was invited by a local arts programming organization, Wood Street Walls, to create a "Sorted Books" series in the Wood Street Library before the closure. In addition, a Dutch mural artist called JanIsdeMan was commissioned to paint some of my resulting book groups on a large exterior wall of a falafel shop across the street from the library. In this way, both my project and the resulting mural would become ways of marking the presence of the library during its last months on Wood Street and in the time to follow.
The book collection at the Wood Street Library was lively and diverse in ways that suggested the needs and interests of the neighborhood’s community. There was a sizeable section of bilingual books for people learning English as a second language. There was an enormous children’s book section, an impressive collection of sheet music, and unexpectedly large sections dedicated to crime thrillers, self-help, celebrity biographies, travel guides, and the supernatural. Books published quite recently mingled with pleasantly outdated ones. Many of my morning work hours at the Wood Street Library were accompanied by the cheerful sound of two librarians leading children in singing rhyming songs, all of which I knew by heart at the end of my four days of intensive work.
An Independent Woman, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
Can I Tell You About Depression?, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
Elizabeth: The Queen, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
Freud in a Week, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
Giving Effective Feedback, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
How Pleasure Works, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
I Am Death, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
Jesus Christ Superstar, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
Remembering Slavery, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
The Mesmerist, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
The Narcissist Test, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
USA, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.
You, from the series Wood Street Library, 2019, from the project “Sorted Books,” 1993 and ongoing. Digital chromogenic prints, 12.5 × 19 inches.