Revolt in the Desert

The Desert (Revolt in the Desert) (2014), book pages, tea, collage on paper, 72 x 42”

This collage is made from an Arabic-language version of TS Lawrence’s account of Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The pages were torn apart, steeped in tea, dried in sunlight, and glued willy-nilly on watercolor paper. The small image of Sir Lawrence in full Bedouin attire is from the photographic illustrations. Oddly, I found an edition of this work in Arabic and in Hebrew only a few weeks apart in two different Oregon bookstores.

In homage to the Super Panavision 70 mm format of Alexander Korda’s 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, this collage is long and narrow to mimic the image aspect ratio of 2.20:1 and the vastness of a desert horizon.