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Delainey Barclay, a visual artist from Wilmington, DE, states that the common themes within her artwork are “texture, repetition, and layering,” whether she is painting or creating site-specific sculptural installations. In this particular installation, Barclay has accumulated 108 found, discarded books and meticulously folded the pages of each book to create a variety of 3-dimensional geometric forms. Depending on the size of the original book, number of pages, paper tonality, and type of fold, each book has its own unique form, its own unique identity. Each has been transformed into a sculptural object. The words are no longer readable; instead they are dark patterned details that adorn each form.

Typically, the altered books are hung on the wall and arranged in clustered groupings. Barclay has purposefully composed the books to accentuate the negative space of the exposed wall. She has said, “Although the physical presence of the work itself is important, the existing space in and around the objects are of equal importance.”

For Barclay, using discarded books as an artistic material is not only repurposing the objects; the familiarity of books makes the work approachable. And beyond the books themselves, there is the realization of the labor intensive nature of the process and the amount of patience involved to fold each page of each book.

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