sign language media artist inter-art, media, video, poetry, calligraphy, storytelling, performance, sign language

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"Datemark of American History"

palimpsest (n)
1. a writing material that has been written on more than once after earlier writing has been erased.

This toilet paper was recycled from a section The Story of America of the dictionary as a part of the dictionary-based series of works. This work was inspired by the idea of palimpsests in relation to erasure and deconstruction.

Consume life-fragile trees and nature,
Conserve memories of American wars and history.
Without history, tree is a living memory.

My mother told me a story:
When she was a little girl in Poland shortly after the World War II,
she collected cuts of movie celebrities in her scrapbook.
Paper was scarce at that time, and her scrapbook was sacred.
When she returned home from a residential school, her scrapbook was gone.
Somebody in her large family had used it up for toilet.

When all the trees have been cut down,
When all the animals have been hunted,
When all the waters are polluted,
When all the air is unsafe to breathe,
Only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
-- Cree prophecy

Only then will you discover you cannot eat paper. Or even toilet paper.