Off by Heart and Out of Breath. A Silva Rerum

Off by Heart and Out of Breath. A Silva Rerum is an artist's book that accompanied the exhibition of the same name at Argos Centre of Arts and Media 2016. In the summer of 2014 Wendy Morris walked from Calais in the north of France to Vlissingen in the Netherlands following the route of her Huguenot ancestors who fled persecution in the 17th century. In the exhibition, and in the book, Morris takes the visitor on her search for - mostly absent - traces of her ancestors. At the same time she raises questions about themes that are relevant in our times - migration, persecution and identity. She creates a Silva Rerum or living book for the women who fled. The book as exhibition, but also the exhibition as book. The first part of the title Off by Heart and Out of Breath refers to Morris’ walks, during which she recited the names of her ancestors aloud till she knew them by heart. At the same time she kept a meticulous record of her impressions and discoveries in her diary, from which she generated fourteen letters or Dispatches that she sent by post to some twenty readers in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and South-Africa.

ISBN:9789492321343

Publication year:2016