Amalgam by Emily Chaplain —LIBRARY PURCHASE PRIZE! —SOLD OUT!

LIBRARY PURCHASE PRIZE! This book will be purchased by 23 Sandy Gallery and donated to the artist book collection at the University of Puget Sound Collins Library. Amalgam evolved from my interest in conflicting scientific studies that try to find out whether differences in the female and male brains determine things such as mental ability, personality, emotion and behavior. I am interested in the tension between these studies and the potential negative implications acceptance of research that finds inherent gendered brain difference could have on our lives and on obtaining gender equality in our society. The digitally printed accordion of Amalgam depicts a woman on the front and a man on the back, whose portraits were purposefully pixellated to give a sense of the images breaking down. I hand cut the pop out structure to give a sense of the two images blending together and weaving in and out of each other. The recession on the cover is a digital print evocative of neurons and was shaped to imply a microscopic slide.