As my final thesis project, I created an artist’s book titled Nostos, comprised of cyanotypes of my memories of Greece combined with stories from my grandfather’s autobiography. Fragments of stories told by my grandfather are bound together, quite physically with cyanotype-dipped string, into a tangible object. My memories of home are laid out, in conversation with his. The string that binds them together has a memory of its own. Though dipped in cyanotype, the string has never been exposed to the sun. Thus, the artwork’s backbone will change color with time. Pages pondered over will turn deep blue, documenting the time spent open. Pages overlooked will remain a lighter, green-infused blue, awaiting to be flipped for the sunlight to change them. Through its materiality, the book both transports to a hazy past and records the present moment; becoming a vessel of memory.
