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(Folsom, Rose) My Century in Your Face. Poem by Maria Elena Cruz Varela. Book design, calligraphy and binding by Rose Folsom. Silver Spring. Maryland. 1998. 108p. 10.5” x 8”. Xerography on vellum paper, photography. Cream cloth boards with stitching on spine. In an ochre card folder, with title written in calligraphy on front. No. 8 of 15 signed copies. Fine. Inscribed to a previous owner by the artist.

This book won First Prize at “Book Explorations ‘99’”, sponsored by The New Art Forum in Kingston, MA.

Folsom writes: “In 1996, I began to reflect on the end of the century. Mycentury. Even though I have only lived half of it, I identify with the 20th century as I do my country of birth. I cannot picture myself outside of it. I am aware of how it has formed me, and how I cannot separate myself from it. The next century will, in a way, belong to somebody else. It will be mine only second-hand. There will be people born in the 21st century who never knew the 20th, my century. This book is a collection of larger-than-life photos of faces of the people who formed my century, ranging from Elvis Presley to Igor Stravinsky; from Mahatma Gandhi to Robert Oppenheimer to Rudolf Nureyev. The photos are accompanied by a poem entitled ‘Love Song for Difficult Times’ by a Cuban poet who was born the same year I was.

“This book is a way of saying farewell to my century, as all of us, about to be refugees, are nudged by time over the border from our own century into the unknown of the next.”

Related items: Calligraphy, Photography, Poetry, Rose Folsom