| Title | The Faded Past |
| Subtitle | Knowledge Without Power |
| Artist / Creator | Hanne Niederhausen |
| Place of Publication | Boca Raton, FL |
| Publication Date | 2009 |
| Structure / Binding | Palm leaf book, hard cover covered with hand painted Tyvek paper. String, wooden beads. Presented in a felt slip case. |
| Medium / Materials | Inkjet printing on double- sided Museo II 250 gsm archival paper. Two-sided text is printed on grey Rives BFK paper. |
| Number of Pages | 18 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 2.75 x 10.5 x .75 inches. |
| Edition Size | Edition of 5 |
| Signed & Numbered | Yes |
An almost complete edition of an old German Meyers Lexikon was given to me by a friend who was leaving the country. I looked for some time at the worn, dilapidated volumes standing on a book shelf, and I became fascinated by their wonderfully aged leather spines with golden letters. Once they all looked alike; now each one has taken on a different patina expressing a personal character. With Faded Past I am transforming these wise but out-dated volumes into a new book, giving them a second life. Anyone who loves to flip through dictionaries might have the same fondness looking at the running heads on the tops and bottoms of the pages. I spent quite some time compiling weird pairs of sounds to use as text in this book; they had to be alliterations. You will find pairs such as Cosmic Couch and Wordy Worm. The days where we open an encyclopedia instead of a computer to obtain knowledge are vanishing fast; the case of Webster vs. web might turn out to be a lost battle. The reverse sides of the pages show images of tools and typefaces I photographed at the print shop in the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. Letterpress printing is another example of a disappearing craft.
Artist Bio
Hanne Niederhausen grew up in Germany and is now living in South Florida. She holds a MA from the Pädagogische Hochschule in Karlsruhe, studied art in Canada, Arizona and Florida where she received a BFA from Florida Atlantic University. For Hanne art has diverse forms. Her work reveals an affinity to experimentation with a range of materials and media, including printmaking, book arts, photography, assemblage, and painting. Her art is a response to various places that she has lived in or encountered on her extensive travels, and reflects her interest in other cultures. Hanne has exhibited widely in juried competitions, as well as in solo and group exhibitions in the US and Europe. In 2009 she had an extensive exhibition of her book work at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University where several of her books are held in the collection. Among the numerous awards she received, her work was recognized in the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Program and in the Florida Artists' Book Prize Exhibition at the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book. Her work is included in "500 Handmade Books" and Lark Studio Series "Handmade Books."