Enough is Enough (Trade Edition) Artist's Book by Wendy Fernstrum
“With the arrival of COVID-19 came an invitation to let go. This artist book germinated at the beginning of the lockdown in spring 2020, as I settled into isolation and reflected on my attachments. I finished production two years later, when faces began emerging from behind N95 masks.
How much is enough? In this catalog of belongings that I’ve given away or let go of, I examine the relationship between longings and belongings and the wrestle of generosity with attachment. It’s a record of practicing generosity, of making space for a sense of enough. After an object leaves my possession, the residue of attachment often remains. The greater the sentimental value, the longer the memory of the object persists, filling the space as if it had never left.
This endeavor to leave the world of never enough and abide in the space of enough is a daily, minute-by-minute practice. Occasionally I glimpse what it’s like to simple be.
Encouraging me in the practice of generosity are sages across time and faith traditions. Enough Is Enough features quotes from those sages. Their words appear on the white sheet opposite the image of an object.
Paired with their words of wisdom throughout the book, my own reflections concretize the pursuit of ideals in a culture of insatiable craving. My words appear over the ghost image of each object.” - Wendy Fernstrum
8” x 8”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
Wendy Fernstrum (she/her) writes, designs, prints, and binds artist’s books under the press name of Fernwerks. In 2016, Wendy received the 2016 Minnesota Book Artist Award, a category of the Minnesota Book Awards. She was the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant in 2008, and she received a Jerome Foundation/Minnesota Center for Book Arts fellowship in 1996. Her work is exhibited and collected nationally.
