Exhibition

David E. Carey Bookworms

These photographs work on several levels. On one level, theydocument the nocturnal activities of bookworms, those tiny, shy creatures that live in books, read the stories and develop ways to help the characters in the stories. The bookworms discuss the best way to help a character in trouble and then construct whatever is necessary to affect that rescue. These photographs document the additions the bookworms have made to the pages of the book; the gates, docks, tunnels etc. that they have built and added to help whoever they can.

On another level, these photographs represent an attempt to reconfigure my childhood; to exert control over a chaotic world and to make things come out the way I wanted them to. They suggest the idea of a rescuer who sees potential tragedy and then intervenes to give all stories a happy ending.The photographs also bring to mind ideas of appropriation and alteration of images. By physically adding items and constructions to the existing artwork, the meaning and intent of the images is transformed, sometimes radically.