By Lyall F. Harris
Charlottesville, VA: Lyall F. Harris, 2023. Special Edition of 5.
10.25 x 8.25 x 1 in. Codex structure with a wrap enclosure. Bound with a French link stitch on ribbons with custom translucent envelopes, anchored by Italian stamps, containing single pages digitally printed. Signed and numbered by the artist. Editioned version includes copy of pamphlet version.
Lyall Harris: "At its core, ‘Grace’ is a book about a relationship's unbridgeable gap, in this case the relationship between a woman and her mother-in-law, and what, ultimately, can exist in that space: the possibility of grace. Catholicism - Its ideals, expectations of self-sacrifice and perfectionism - is an unnamed protagonist in this work, which advances in a numbered progression that recalls the Stations of the Cross. A second ‘protagonist’ is the handwritten letter. In Italian, their meaning likely eludes most readers of this work; they therefore function as a visual backdrop, but their intensity and sentiment are nevertheless gleaned by reading the text fragments on the recto ‘Stations of the Cross’ sides. "
i:
          Her letters
          Come through the mail slot
          A dead weight in the foyer
          Sometimes I read them
          Sometimes I don’t
          The stack grows in a box
          Dream-dark in my shed