Saskia Overzee & Amanda Butterworth Gaze
Saskia Overzee & Amanda Butterworth
Gaze
148 x 210 mm
280 Pages
Swiss and French Binding
2023
About the Book:
“to look steadily and intently with great curiosity and wonder”
Like a golden thread throughout the book you see photos of a figure taken from the back as we gaze over their shoulder onto a vast expanse of nature. The figure serves not only to place the viewer within the scene, but also to act as a means of understanding the grandiose scale of the environment. With the figure acting as a surrogate for the viewer, one is able to see nature’s sublimity vicariously through their eyes. But nature’s beauty is by no means confined to the exceptional. It’s waiting to be discovered in the most unexpected and delightful of places, deserved of our precious attention. There’s endless fascination hidden beneath the surface and as we open up our senses, it’s revealed to us when the pages are torn open. When this act is executed with care and patience it will give the book a new character and a beautiful tactile edge.
Image curtesy of the artists
Book review by Joe Cuccio |
The outstanding duo of Saskia Overzee and Amanda Butterworth has done it again with their new hand-crafted book, Gaze. This book highlights the experience of staring deeply at the vastness of nature through various images of figures from the rear. Whether it’s depictions of the arresting beauty of mountains and rivers or the constructed world humanity has brought about, there is a constant gaze upon the world around us. This book gracefully portrays the fascination that can be found within the act of a prolonged look at the natural or even the unnatural world we may encounter.
By integrating text in this book the viewer’s senses are heightened as they experience each scene being beheld. The use of definitions of descriptive words is scattered throughout on pages full of white space, such as breathtaking, powdery, and velvet. Another text element deployed is small passages describing the experience of looking upon the natural world. One of the most powerful passages had these words within it, “The long narrow leaves have dried up, causing their shape to be twisted. Different hues of raw umber, the back of the leaves lighter than the front. Together they form an almost equilateral triangle with a solid, impenetrable base. Towards the top, the shape becomes more free and less compact. You can even see through it.” This passage was found amidst an otherwise blank spread, and to me almost functions as an image. If I closed my eyes and heard someone recite those words to me I would feel that I would be able to immediately see what is being described. The vivid nature of the writing compliments the images well.
Image curtesy of the artists
What I find to be the most fascinating is the text that falls between the folds of the pages. The book-making style has created these magnificent folds from one page to the next. We typically give the most attention to what is on the front of each page, but this style of book allows for text and images to exist on the interior of the pages. Words describing the images of people gazing upon the world amply our engagement with the images such as, “Early morning fog gives the lake an ethereal experience.”
These words are slightly concealed by the paper lying above them. It creates a unique separation between the text and the viewer, and if the viewer quickly speeds along the reading of this book they may miss it. Another incredible piece of this book is the experience of finding an image within the folds themselves. As you flip from one page to the next you may catch a glimpse of what lies between the pages. Depictions of natural objects found within the landscape like rocks, animals, and other things are held between the pages. There is a struggle to see the entire object if you go searching for it, but it offers the viewer an added layer of subject matter to consider when thinking about what it means to gaze at the world.
Image curtesy of the artists
Image curtesy of the artists
The structure of this book is flawless in my opinion. The carefully crafted nature of this piece of art is my favorite feature. From the perfect bind found as you open up the cover page to the skillfully crafted spreads at times allowing a single image to bleed to the edges and other instances leaving just a small photograph within a large blank canvas. I adore the way the pacing of this book has been set out by these two artists. It allows me to find something new each time I engage with this object. It certainly is all about the act of gazing, but through integrating multiple types of imagery and text I can experience something new as I journey through this captivating collection of work.
Image curtesy of the artists
