Disasters

I have produced an “empty book” where the front and back covers share the same photograph from Reuters that reported on two different earthquakes in two different countries at two different times.

For this artist book edition, a pounded gold leaf† produced in Bangkok, Thailand has been inserted.
The value of the gold from Thailand is equal to the cost of the book’s production cost in Orthez, France.
The gold leaf and this book share the same value even if created from two very different points of departure.

-Pratchaya Phinthong, May 2015

† Note that flipping of the pages of this book will pulverize and disperse the gold leaf into dust.
For preservation, turn pages delicately as the gold leaf is extremely fragile and cannot be replaced.