Elizabeth Moran

As an addendum to the installation in Southern Methodist University’s Hawn Gallery, two sets of recently decommissioned bookshelves from the Fondren Library are re-presented within the library itself. These steel shelves have been removed from their armatures, turned side-ways, and hung flush on the wall, echoing Minimalist installations of stacked steel sculptures.

However, upon closer inspection, these former library stacks, emptied of the books they once held, reveal colorful markings left by the movement of the volumes’ waxed library binding. These abstractions present evidence of the librarians’ labor as the books were pulled, shuffled, and re-shelved over the course of 40 years.