| Tear Pages. Have Them The triptych is photographed in Lusaka City Library. It shows the rear ends of two bookshelves and a faded notice. The notice reads: TEAR PAGES. HAVE THEM. It is only on much closer inspection that one manages to decipher the original message, which has been bleached out by the African sun: DO NOT TEAR PAGES OUT OF TEXTBOOKS. HAVE THEM PHOTOCOPIED INSTEAD. No doubt most visitors would only read the clearer version – an instruction from the library to its guests to tear out pages and keep them. Immediately we picture what the library might look like – decimated atlases, novels without endings, empty files. Like the negation of a library. Fundamental Expressions Alliance Française, Lusaka 2006.  Tear Pages. Have Them C-print 35 x 84 cm 2006 |
