Sea

SPECIFICATIONS

  • 6" X 7”
  • 200 PAGES
  • TRIPLE RUBBERBAND BINDING
  • LASER PRINTED ON HIGH-QUALITY 32lb PREMIUM PAPER
  • HAND-TORCHED / MELTED PLASTIC COVER WITH EMBOSSED EMBELLISHMENTS ON BACK AND HANDWRITTEN TITLE IN INK ON BLACK ARTIST’S TAPE
  • CHARCOAL RUBBED TITLE PAGE
  • FULL BLEED LAYOUT W/ HAND-CUT EDGES
  • OVER 190+ PHOTOGRAPHS EXCLUSIVE TO THIS VOLUME
  • 1 DOUBLE-SIDED LOOSELEAF INSERT WITH TEXTWORK
  • 1 FUJI NORITSU COLOR PRINT EXCLUSIVE TO THIS VOLUME PRINTED ON FUJICOLOR CRYSTAL ARCHIVE PAPER HELD TO THE PAGE WITH ARCHIVAL CANSON PHOTO-SQUARES
  • SIGNED, STAMPED AND NUMBERED BY THE ARTIST
  • FIRST EDITION OF 50 + 5 APs ; ARTIST EDITION OF 10 ; SPECIAL EDITION OF 1

DESCRIPTION

SEA is a collection of images created by Jason Jaworski on a one-week trip to Mexico City in 2013. Throughout the trip, whether by accident or through negligence, all his cameras broke except for a small, focus-less, single aperture half-frame camera he had brought with him. “Not caring about what kind of pen I was using, I started to write down whatever images I could through whatever means I had. Then, a couple days before I was to leave, a large explosion occurred in the city at the Pemex Executive Tower, killing 37 people and injuring over 120 more. I collected a jar of ash from the blast site and, upon returning to my studio in Los Angeles, started exploring ways to incorporate the time I spent there into a meaningful project.” Through a series of combined experimental processes, the artist came up with a system of crude techniques to use while developing his negatives, involving placing the ash from the actual blast site into his development canisters, along with using excessive agitation, boiling water and intentional sun / light exposure. The result, along with the smaller half-frame negative he was forced to use, gives the grain and silver in each image an extra nuance when enlarged, texturally mimicking both ash and sandpaper- as if the images were brushed with steel wool or were the remnants from a fire. In creating the book, Jaworski hand-torched and melted each cover as well as rubbed charcoal throughout the pages to give the reader a feeling he had while sifting through the sea of ash from the blast site.

A special edition of the book was produced that had an alternate Fuji Noritsu print cover, charred palo santo rubbings, a handwritten textwork, a 5 postcard color set of exclusive images, and a unique set of artifacts / ephemera from the artist's travels in Mexico City, including a vintage pin made from a pressed silver gelatin print.

The book was highlighted in an artist interview Jason Jaworski had with Opening Ceremony where the publication launched for sale. 

The first edition, artist edition and special edition of the book from SSK Press have all SOLD OUT.

ARTIST TEXT

I grew up on the border in San Ysidro, yet I had never been to Mexico City. For me, it quickly became a place of longing, a city I would dream about and ruminate over through snippets of articles I’d read or through stories from strangers I came across who had been there. All I ever knew about it as a kid was that it was one of the largest cities in the world and I can vaguely remember reading an article about how birds used to drop from the sky -dead- suffocating from the city’s pollution. It seemed like an otherworldly war zone, and through an increasingly accumulated knowledge of the place and a realization of its depth as a cultural center, my longing to visit the city grew stronger. - Fast forward a couple decades and I’m on a plane slowly descending through clouds with the vast expanse that is Mexico City sprawled out in front of me beyond the window. Through turbulence I can see buildings of all sort and color, streaming on and on- the vantage point from afar giving me a vanishing point that destroys any other.

Throughout my trip, whether by accident or through negligence, all my cameras broke except for a small, focus-less, single aperture half-frame camera I had brought with me. Not caring about what kind of pen I was using, I started to write down whatever images I could through whatever means I had. Then, a couple days before I was to leave, a large explosion occurred in the city at the Pemex Executive Tower. From the window of the room I was staying in strands of smoke could be seen billowing up and out into the distance along with tall tufts of black and orange flames visible from miles away. After an investigation, it was found that the cause of the blast was a gas leak ignited by an electrical fault. The next few days of my time in the city I wandered around, taking pictures up and down the alleys and streets, getting lost in mercados and city squares all around me. When I returned to my studio in Los Angeles I started exploring ways to incorporate the time I spent there into a project and all I could see was the fire.

Through a series of experimental processes, I came up with a crude system of techniques to use while developing my negatives involving excessive agitation, boiling water, and intentional sun / light exposure. The result, along with the smaller half-frame negative I was forced to use, gives the grain and silver in each image an extra nuance when enlarged, texturally mimicking both ash and sandpaper- as if the images were brushed with steel wool. This development process, coupled with the fragments of charcoal dusted on every page, hopefully lends this book the feeling I felt during my final few days in the city, where walking down each block felt like sifting or swimming through the remnants and wreckage of an anonymous sea of fire. 

- Jason Jaworski
2014