Exhibition
Location
Bibliowicz Family Gallery
Milstein Hall
M–F, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Contact
Exhibitions and Events
Reception
Friday, February 27, 5–7:30 p.m.
Related Links
Abstract
What is a book, exactly? Bookmaker and artist, Dayanita Singh, writes that “a book is a conversation with a stranger in the future.” In other words, a book is not simply a medium to convey information, but rather a conduit for human connection, an enduring form that brings people together in ways both real and imaginary. Like Singh, we contend that a book is a relational tool, extending far beyond the boundaries of the material object itself. A book is a meeting place, containing multiple spaces in time, images, words, and whole pages waiting to be activated.
Public Programming
February 27, 5–7:30 p.m.: Exhibition reception and poetry/prose reading
February 28 and March 1, 2–3 p.m. and 3:30–4:40 p.m. both days: Tour and workshop at Onward & Company
March 1, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.: Zine making and binding workshop
March 2, 2–4 p.m.: Field trip to Cornell’s Rare and Manuscript Collection
Events are free and open to the public, but attendance is capped due to space limitations.
Biographies
Carla Liesching
b. 1985 | Cape Town, South Africa
Carla Liesching is an interdisciplinary artist working across photography, writing, collage, sculpture, bookmaking, and design. She is the author of Good Hope (Mack, 2022), a hybrid image-text memoir chronicling centuries of empire and struggle, shortlisted for the Aperture Paris-Photo First Book Award and the Arles Prix du Livre in the Photo-Text Category. She has installed exhibitions and public works both domestically and internationally, including exhibitions at PhMuseum in Bologna (2024), the Deutsche Börse Foundation in Frankfurt (2023), and the Foam Museum in Amsterdam (2022). Liesching lives between South Africa and Ithaca, New York, where she works as a Lecturer in Cornell University’s Department of Art, as faculty of the International Center of Photography’s Writing and the Photographic Image program, and as Chief Editor of the Book Arts Review published by the Center for Book Arts in New York City.
Faye Pamintuan (M.F.A. '26)
b. 1994 | Bulacan, Philippines
Faye Pamintuan is a painter born in Bulacan, Philippines, raised in Houston, Texas, and currently based in Ithaca, New York, where she is pursuing an M.F.A. in Creative Visual Arts at Cornell University. Moving between the Philippines and the United States shapes her practice, as she uses painting to locate her sense of self within shifting geographies and in-between spaces. Drawing from flora and fauna, she works across painting, ceramics, and installation to trace the movement of plants and question fixed ideas of nativeness and hybrid identity. Pamintuan earned a B.F.A. in painting, magna cum laude, from the University of the Philippines Diliman, cofounded OVERINKED in Quezon City, and has exhibited her work in the Philippines and the United States, including New York City and the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio.
Melaina Thompson (B.F.A. '26)
b. 2004 | Pittsburgh, PA
Melaina Thompson is pursuing a B.F.A. in Studio Art at Cornell University. Working primarily in print media, her practice explores ideas of interdependence, kinship, and empathy between female avatars and the natural world. She uses process-based and craft mediums, such as paper and bookmaking, to question the often gendered denigration of these mediums. In addition to being a visual artist, Melaina is a writer and often incorporates her own writing into her work. Melaina has exhibited her work in Ithaca, NY, and her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. You are most likely to find her in the intaglio studio working on her latest etching.
