A Different Story.
Last November, I found myself in search of a new art endeavor. Photography had been my form of expression for the past dozen years, but it just wasn’t pulling me in anymore. I had heard of altered books before, as “a found or re-purposed book that is transformed into a work of art to express a healing journey. Pages are painted, torn or collaged to explore new meanings and ideas. The artist can interact with the words or illustrations on the printed page, or create totally new ones.”
I loved the idea of a continuous project that was more about the process than the product. I came across Pat Conroy’s Beach Music at a used book sale. I had never heard of it but it fit my criteria: thick enough to keep me busy for a while. As I made my way through the book, I was able to avoid the paralysis of perfection that had often stopped me from creating visual art. I simply put down whatever came to mind and moved on to the next page. Some pages took hours, others took minutes.
As I continued through Beach Music, I started to loosely follow along with the narrative. I realized how closely the details in the story matched those of my life. The story is about the aftermath of a man losing his wife, Shyla, to suicide and his decision to travel to foreign land to start anew. Two years ago, I lost one of my moms, Tyla, to suicide, and I set off to Alaska in hopes of doing the same.
I never thought a book I randomly pulled off a shelf would hit so close to home. I started to see pieces of my life in other stories, books, and poems that I read. Words hidden in the pages that often explained my thoughts and feelings better than my conscious self ever could. It lead to me feel much less alone in the world. Although we may have different stories, there is a thread that connects each of us, even if it’s buried from plain sight.
Jesse Rosenstein is an artist/photographer/filmmaker from Baltimore, MD who moved to Alaska in 2017. More work can be found at www.jesserosenstein.com