Notes on Clarissa is an ongoing project based on the 18th-century epistolary novel Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. The 99 collages in Notes on Clarissa (Volume I) are derived from 4 x 6-inch exhibition cards of my 2019 installation Ebb Tide at ODETTA/Chelsea (last image). Volume I was shown in my 2020 solo exhibition "Uneasy Terms" at Undercurrent in Brooklyn, NY.

The novel's story is told primarily through the correspondence (500+ letters) between four principal characters, and details the drama of a young woman's seduction, violation and ultimate tragedy. Each collage alludes to one of the letters in the four-volume novel. The considered manipulation of exhibition ephemera highlights the interplay between the materials used in my installations and the photographic representation of that work.

Below is a selection of collages from Volume I.

Gelah Penn

Gelah Penn