Natural States is an exhibition publication I designed for Pier Arts Centre, a gallery and museum in Orkney, Scotland, which displays a permanent collection of 20th Century artworks by the likes of Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis. Natural States was the title of a painting exhibition, showcasing 3 contemporary artists, in and amongst the valuable permanent collection.

As a nod to the 20th century collection, I researched visual tropes for this project in the Museum’s archive, where I found I found a small publication from the 70s:

I was impressed and intrigued by the black semi-circle graphic, which was used to prevent the cover of the publication from getting dirty as you pinched and pulled the tiny book from it’s pouch. Are your fingers dirty? Since the answer is probably yes, I utilised (stole) this graphic in order to invite the reader to pinch and pull each sheet of Natural States, away from it’s unbound order:

The publication is paginated (ordered) in a way, that if you pull a sheet with an image away from the book, you will be left with a [double sided] poster plate containing only the works of the artist you have pulled out.

• Before pulling Barbara Hepworth:

• After pulling Barbara Hepworth:

Each poster plate is printed on silk paper. And each text page is printed on matte:

Natural States, ISBN 978-0-9531131-4-9, Published by Pier Arts Centre, 32pp, 325 × 230mm