New York: Marianne R. Petit, 2021. Hardcover. One of 25 copies. Inspired by the 1917 edition of "Health Knowledge, the Most Essential Thing in Life", this pop-up collection focuses on six insects that spread disease in people. The featured insects include: the body louse, the house fly, the itch mite, the bed bug, the mosquito, and the human flea. Presented here in two formats - an accordion pop-up book and 6 stand alone pop-up cards. When opened, each page reveals the uncomfortable sight of a moving insect crawling in the palm of a hand. The text reveals disturbing facts about each insect and the diseases they spread; for example: "Bed bugs spend most of their time hidden in the dark and can survive up to 70 days without feeding." To emphasize the feeling of revulsion, the artist has chosen to color the hands green rather than skin toned and to intersperse images of stains, dirt, and mold into the backgrounds. The movement of the insects on each page, the scratchy sounds of the paper moving as the insects twist, the grungey imagery and colors, and the graphic text all come together to effectively stimulate the reader's feelings of horror and disgust. Digitally printed with archival ink on velvet rag paper. Pop-ups are constructed by hand. Book size: 5 x 4.5 inches closed, 5 x 63 inches open. Each card: 6 x 7.5 inches.
Marianne is "an artist and educator whose work explores fairy tales, anatomical obsessions, and collective storytelling practices through mechanical books that combine animation and papercraft. My interests are in combining technology, traditional book arts, and sequential storytelling to create new forms of narrative for the 21st century. [Her] artwork has appeared internationally in festivals and exhibitions, been featured in publications such as Hyperallergic, Make, and Wired, and broadcast on IFC and PBS. My movable books can be found in numerous museum and library collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the British Library, the Berlin Public Library, Boston Library, as well as numerous University and private collections. [She is] an Associate Arts Professor at New York University’s ITP and IMA (Interactive Media Arts) Program located in the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. I am a co-founder of the Interactive Media Arts Program at NYU Shanghai and I also serve as an Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Network Academic Planning for the University. I received the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016" (artist's statement). ARTB/061522. Fine. More