People typically think about what is present in a library, such as the books in a collection. A library, however, also involves absence, particularly the absence of books. Libraries exist in the hope their resources will be “absent” or checked out and enjoyed by others. This piece consists of 165 handmade and embossed cotton cards arranged on a library book cart. Each one represents the number of books checked out of the fine arts section (N in the Library of Congress classification system) of my campus library during the first half of the fall semester 2021. The installation takes the appearance of a shelving cart with half of the cards neatly lined up and the rest chaotically piled. This shows the circulation cycle of taking once absent items and replacing them so that they can be enjoyed again.
