incunabula
Date 2004-2012
Materials unique color intaglio prints
spitbite soapground aquatint with photogravure
incunabula, n.
pronunciation: /ɪnkjuːˈnæbjʊlə/
etymology: < Latin incūnābula (neuter plural) swaddling-clothes,
hence cradle, and fig. childhood, beginning, origin, < cūnæ cradle.
The word incunabula refers to the earliest stages or first traces of something, infancy, beginnings, the birthplace or origin.
These intaglio prints were created in a series of workshops at Crown Point Press, 2004-2012. The photogravure plates were created from scans of engravings from Process of Parturition by Francis H. Ramsbotham, 1847.
I found this leather-bound book in a used bookstore in 1993 in Berkeley.
The images stayed with me for many years, especially the precarious predicaments of the breech. Today these would be called “malpresentations”. There is, according to some, a reluctance in breech babies to exit the womb and enter the world. It is about not being in alignment. For me, this became a metaphor for the creative process – some ideas linger in the non-material realm and, sometimes, others make their way into the world.
