The Coyote's Gift by Erin K. Schmidt

The visual imagery in this book shifts its focus between found deer bones and their cast shadows. I discovered this portion of a spine in my yard early one fall morning. They were left behind by a coyote, and are all that remains of a white tail deer. These little discoveries often feel like gifts.

Mirror image photographs of the bones printed onto cotton poplin are roughly sewn together with deer sinew providing the viewer pause to consider this gift of bones from the coyote. Text printed onto silk organza is cloaked in shadows of black chiffon. The narrative describes repeated encounters with the coyote while also contemplating the unanswerable questions about what these secretive meetings could mean. As the text progresses it becomes clear that the coyote is representative of a deeply felt attraction to someone out of reach for reasons left unclear. The discovery of the bones elicits this daydream of melancholic longing.

The black chiffon serves as the shadows referenced in the text. Images can be viewed through the chiffon by laying the chiffon across the page, or the chiffon can be moved out of the way, above or below pages so as not to obscure the view. This book is meant to be viewed both ways, using the chiffon as shadows, as well as lifting the shadows.

A cover made from tea-stained white tail deer hide wraps completely around the pages with a bone bead closure. A Japanese stab binding is done using deer sinew.