Hour of Lead by Ariel Kessler

Hour of Lead by Ariel Kessler
14 pages, 6 x 6 in. Japanese Stab Stitched.
Handmade & Printed on Inkjet Paper, text printed on
Japanese Sumi-e Paper.
Made in an edition of 20 with 2 artist proofs.
Signed & Numbered.
$32 + S&H

Ariel Kessler, who I had just recently graduated with from The Massachusetts College of Art & Design, approached me early this summer about making her series, Hour of lead, into a book. I was stoked from the get-go about doing this book with her. I was excited not only because I liked the project idea, but also because I thought the narrative book form would be well suited for it because the project is about a conversation through photographic images. A couple of months later, after a little mail (now that she lives in Portland, OR), texting, email and Facebook chat exchange, here we have it. A sweet little handmade book with a sweet story.

The series itself is a dialogue created by Ariel, combining her own silver gelatin prints and her late father's Kodachrome color slides. Having just a little memory of him, she created this narrative of images not only to gain insight into his world, but to also show the effect of losing him.

You can see more of her work on her website arielkessler.com.