Based on your Current Trajectory
By Rachel Simmons
Orlando, Florida: Rachel Simmons, 2020-2021. Edition of 10.

Dimensions: 8.25” tall x 4.25” wide x 1” deep when enclosed and 17” wide x 8” tall x 2.5” deep when open and removed from enclosure. Relief, screen and digital prints on paper and board with adhesive label paper, punch labels, gesso and marker. Illustrations and text adapted from Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time.” Laid in a self-closing wrapper enclosure with magnetic clasp. Numbered.

Rachel Simmons: "This book began during the early days of the global pandemic as a meditation on the passing of time. At the beginning of 2021, I returned to the book, and began reading theories of space-time and time travel, eventually discovering the concept of the twin paradox—which asks what happens when one identical twin departs Earth to travel near light speed in through space and the other twin remains on Earth, aging normally. How do they experience time differently? How does time change their identities and relationship? From that point on, I focused creating a narrative about a time traveler seeking to understand the laws of space-time as they search for their lost twin, a story based on the real-life disappearance of my youngest brother, who hasn’t been seen since 2018.

"Aesthetically this book brings together my love of experimental mixed media printmaking and comics through an interactive flag book structure. By including illustrations of myself and a font made from my own handwriting, I sought to personalize the narrative like a visual journal. Unlike most flag books, this structure is meant to be laid flat on a table with the accordion spine down, then read by flipping each row of cards towards you from front to back while reading up and down or left and right. Once you’ve read either the red or blue sides of the cards, you can close the book and start from the opposite side. The duality and complexity of the structure echoes the difficulty of understanding our personal relationships and our place in space-time. "
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$675