Arcadia id est
Curated by Sarah Bodman
17-26 November 2005

This exhibition, touring Europe, Australia and the USA until 2007, examines nature and landscape through multiple forms of the artist’s books. Many artists have used these themes as metaphorical carriers in more traditonal art mediums; these books show how the subjects can be interpreted and explored in a narrative format: through image, text and both structural and site-specific works.

112 artists have contributed works to Arcadia; these range from finely printed illustrated texts to portable installation of protest flags. The books in this show have been created with reference to nature in both rural and urban environments, to issues concerning our relationship with the elements, as well as historical landscape paintings and texts. Some are celebratory; some explore the darker side of nature or the implications of our destruction of the natural world.