Emily Lazerwitz

This antiquarian book is a sculpture by Emily Lazerwitz. Inside, she has painstaikingly redacted the text. In order to do this, she uses a sharpie and removes all words that are not semantic primes. She subsequently repeats this on each page. Emily also reduces the images within the book to their basic form. This replicates the process of redacting the text. She sees the the relationship between the silhouette as being analogous to the semantic prime and words. Through this action, she reduces the element to the core in both text and image.

Listen to Emily read the first chapter of the redacted ‘A Year of Space’. In this reading, she reads aloud the words left behind after the redaction. These works are both sculptures and performances, with the readings being an integral part of the piece, allowing the patterns of language to emerge.

Patterns and code are themes that Lazerwitz explores in her work. These patterns become more present when the remaining text is read aloud by the artist, in her performances with the sculptures.

The act of redacting also references censorship. In other work, Lazerwitz uses censored CIA documents as her source, transcribing them into other forms, such as rugs and scarves.

This book is part of a series of redacted books.