Mary Tasillo
Philadelphia, PA

Once Whole, Now Homeless
$25

About this Book

Accordion structure, self cover, offset lithography, 5" x 5" x 3/4". Signed and numbered edition of 150 copies.

Artist Statement

I am compelled to make things.
I continually worry that the world is going to pieces.

To address both of these concerns, I make things about the state of the world. Sometimes I want to take the world by the throat and shake it, but usually my approach is subtler. I observe and I collect. I tell a story and encourage the viewer-reader to question her or his own behavior and assumptions. These questions arise from the continual onslaught of stimuli that is the fabric of daily urban and global living. They may address gender expectations, romantic interactions, world news, politics, or the detritus of a city existence. Handmade paper masks enact personae of the citizen facing current events as we all participate in the fantastical circus that is contemporary life. The body becomes the interface onto which the politics of daily experience are mapped out. I am interested in the layers of a story, of the identities we assume and what lies behind these identities. Multiple voices may tell opposing stories. This disjuncture encourages exploration.

If it is important to elicit questioning and action from the viewer, then it is important to elicit questioning and action from as many viewers as possible. I participate in the book arts, paper arts, print culture, and interactivity as sites of democratic access and narrative possibility.

All images and text copyright the artist. All rights reserved.