RAIN WORDS
Edition of 50 Risograph printed books, hand-bound in cloth with letterpress printed slipcovers signed by the artist. Sistrum, 2021

PURCHASE HERE

Rain Words is a mirrored reproduction in its entirety (and in blue) of Word Rain, Madeline Gins’ masterwork of experimental fiction.* Rain Words is a reflection on and of that book; conceived, printed, and bound by Marianne Dages. In Rain Words, Dages’s interventions act as a prism through which the original book’s contents are read and transformed. Word Rain was printed without page numbers; in Rain Words, Dages changes the structure, subtly rearranging the pages within. Word Rain included photographic images of fingers handling the pages; Dages adds images of her own hands throughout. Rain Words is read only by mirror, and therefore encourages the reader to gaze upon themselves in the process. The cover image of Word Rain shows a mysterious book, a book not quite like the one presented to its reader. With Rain Words, Dages has created a looking-glass for the reader to step through. Each copy of the book includes a Risograph printed pamphlet of the essay We’re All Water by Marianne Dages. This essay serves as a companion to Rain Words and speaks about the inspirations behind the piece.

*Gins, Madeline. Word Rain. Grossman Publishers, 1969.

Edition Size: 50 books, signed and numbered
Size: 8.25" x 6.25" x .75" closed, 136 pages
Binding: Multi-signature sewn binding
Hardcovers are case bound in bookcloth with a letterpress printed Yupo slipcover

An Equation for Madeline Gins (excerpt from the essay, We’re all Water)
(artist’s book) - ? = book
book - words = blank book
(blank book) - (thread, glue, fabric, leather) = paper
paper - water = cellulose
cellulose - carbon = H₂0

H-O-H

The sound of an exhale on a cold day.

Writing
in the steam
of breath
on glass

marks = letters = words = thoughts
thoughts = words = letters = marks

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