Cara Barer: Transforming books into art
Dusk and Dawn 2019 © Cara Barer
Books are becoming increasingly obsolete. Despite centuries of importance, the novel and the encyclopedia alike have given way to the Internet and all of its conveniences.
But even books that spend their lives accumulating dust on shelves, books that no one has touched since the 80s, are filled with the potential to teach readers something new, perhaps even about themselves. Through her process of dying and warping old books, Cara Barer helps them realize their potential anew.
Spring 2019 © Cara Barer
Barer, who studied at the Glassell School of Art and the San Francisco Art Institute, initially began experimenting with altering books after noticing how many of her own were no longer useful. Even though her transformed works are noticeably different from the originals, with their pages becoming warped and tinted, they still retain traces of their past lives. Hints of text are visible on the curled pages, and many of the pieces show signs of wear – the marks of careful readers from years past.
Though much of Barer’s early work was comprised of books in abstract positions, with curved spines and pages dancing every which way, her recent work generally takes on a circular form. Each piece is striking and many even resemble chrysanthemums, the pages curling inwardly as if they were petals. The dyes Barer uses are also incredibly striking, each color blending with the next in the pages’ subtle swirl.
Starting Life in Another World 2020 © Cara Barer
Dazed © Cara Barer
Pieces like “Dawn and Dusk” are especially hypnotizing, the outer curls of its pages dyed a bright red while the center of the piece features bright yellow and blue, symbolizing the times of day. The quirks of Barer’s medium are especially noticeable in this piece – while she seemingly intended to dye only the ends of the “Dawn” side red, the insides of “Dusk”’s pages are visible and the original red color of the pages shines through. Because of this, Barer’s creations not only transform books, bringing new life to the old, but also return importance to the forgotten contents of the pages.
Withdrawn 2020 © Cara Barer
Interlocked2 2020 © Cara Barer
In addition to her main series of transformed books, Barer has also created a series of montages, titled “When the Ice Melts”. The series, exhibited at the 2016 FotoFest Biennial at the Nicole Longnecker Gallery, examines the effects of climate change. While the images in the series are harsh – violently juxtaposing mountain and construction site, mop and discolored ocean, washing machine, sea, and drinking water – they reflect the future Barer envisions as the climate crisis worsens.
She is also responsible for a series titled “Isolation”, in which she photographs Houston marathon runners near the end of the race, exhausted yet fiercely persevering. During the pandemic, she began to interpret the runners as symbolic of the world, drained and anticipating the end, determined to get through. Although their faces are tortured, they are a reminder that we, too, can get through anything.
More of Barer’s work can be viewed here.
