Project Statement

It’s important to ask oneself what would Derrida say is a response to Jacques Derrida’s essay “White Mythology: Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy,” from Margins of Philosophy (Chicago, 1982), one of the main sources for my essay “Parler Blanc(he).” It’s important to ask oneself what would Derrida say reflects my thought process and relationship with Derrida’s essay: the highs (synchronicity) and lows (confusion, mental blocks) of working with two translations of his approximately 70-page essay.

The book begins in a Stein-like manner (it doesn’t always make sense) and reflects on: the value of a word, who owns a word, the history and appropriation of the word white, and Derrida’s analogy of an effaced gold coin. The coin represents but not limited to the scene of exchange between the economic and linguistic. The image of the gold coin made a strong impression on me and versions of the coin are repeated in the book. It’s important to ask oneself what would Derrida say also includes a section of an imagined correspondence I have with Derrida. I envision an encounter where I receive straight answers to my questions. However, even in this imaginary interview, in writing, the tension continues.

Exhibition: Making Out, Spring 2016, Dfbrl8r Gallery, Chicago

Collections: Joan Flasch Artists’ Books collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Size: 5 1/2” x 6 3/8”, double accordion style book Materials include beeswax and gold leaf.

A single edition of this work was produced, this one.