Chance of Pain Artist's Book by Rachel Simmons
“Chance of Pain, designed by Rachel Simmons and written by Chrissy Kolaya, 2024. Limited edition artist’s book with digital prints on Mohawk and Reeves BFK. Magnetic paper box enclosure lined with kozo paper.
We’re all tempted, seduced by the question: what will happen next? Especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty, we crave someone or something who can tell us what’s coming. Chance of Pain is part of an ongoing collaborative project which uses adapted text from the Economist magazine’s ‘The World Ahead,’ an issue described by its editors as a ‘guide to the coming year,’ including ‘future gazing analysis, predictions and speculation.’ Through interdisciplinary collaboration, Simmons and Kolaya use unusual combinations of found text and images to challenge the idea that we can ever meaningfully predict the future, that we can ever make sense and order out of an uncertain future.
Giving herself the constraint of working only with text from a single article: ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Pain’ by Roger McShane, China Editor, the Economist ‘The World Ahead 2023’ issue, November 11, 2022, Kolaya chose, omitted, and rearranged text into a found poem, “Chance of Pain” that calls to mind images of political despots eager to ‘reshape the world/in a way that would please autocrats,’ and warns us that ‘observers must be careful not to predict an outcome/just because it would be to their liking.’
Simmons paired the poem with altered photos culled from old issues of National Geographic and Sumi-e ink drawings, both placed together with the text in an elongated lotus-fold book, a playful structure which invites readers to experiment with making their own meaning as they manipulate the pages of the book.
This project has been awarded support from the University of Central Florida’s Women and Gender Studies Program’s Gloria Anzaldúa Research Excellence Award.” - Rachel Simmons
Closed dimensions, 4” x 4” x .5”, open dimensions 8” x 8” x 48”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
“Chance of Pain, designed by Rachel Simmons and written by Chrissy Kolaya, 2024. Limited edition artist’s book with digital prints on Mohawk and Reeves BFK. Magnetic paper box enclosure lined with kozo paper.
We’re all tempted, seduced by the question: what will happen next? Especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty, we crave someone or something who can tell us what’s coming. Chance of Pain is part of an ongoing collaborative project which uses adapted text from the Economist magazine’s ‘The World Ahead,’ an issue described by its editors as a ‘guide to the coming year,’ including ‘future gazing analysis, predictions and speculation.’ Through interdisciplinary collaboration, Simmons and Kolaya use unusual combinations of found text and images to challenge the idea that we can ever meaningfully predict the future, that we can ever make sense and order out of an uncertain future.
Giving herself the constraint of working only with text from a single article: ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Pain’ by Roger McShane, China Editor, the Economist ‘The World Ahead 2023’ issue, November 11, 2022, Kolaya chose, omitted, and rearranged text into a found poem, “Chance of Pain” that calls to mind images of political despots eager to ‘reshape the world/in a way that would please autocrats,’ and warns us that ‘observers must be careful not to predict an outcome/just because it would be to their liking.’
Simmons paired the poem with altered photos culled from old issues of National Geographic and Sumi-e ink drawings, both placed together with the text in an elongated lotus-fold book, a playful structure which invites readers to experiment with making their own meaning as they manipulate the pages of the book.
This project has been awarded support from the University of Central Florida’s Women and Gender Studies Program’s Gloria Anzaldúa Research Excellence Award.” - Rachel Simmons
Closed dimensions, 4” x 4” x .5”, open dimensions 8” x 8” x 48”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
“Chance of Pain, designed by Rachel Simmons and written by Chrissy Kolaya, 2024. Limited edition artist’s book with digital prints on Mohawk and Reeves BFK. Magnetic paper box enclosure lined with kozo paper.
We’re all tempted, seduced by the question: what will happen next? Especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty, we crave someone or something who can tell us what’s coming. Chance of Pain is part of an ongoing collaborative project which uses adapted text from the Economist magazine’s ‘The World Ahead,’ an issue described by its editors as a ‘guide to the coming year,’ including ‘future gazing analysis, predictions and speculation.’ Through interdisciplinary collaboration, Simmons and Kolaya use unusual combinations of found text and images to challenge the idea that we can ever meaningfully predict the future, that we can ever make sense and order out of an uncertain future.
Giving herself the constraint of working only with text from a single article: ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Pain’ by Roger McShane, China Editor, the Economist ‘The World Ahead 2023’ issue, November 11, 2022, Kolaya chose, omitted, and rearranged text into a found poem, “Chance of Pain” that calls to mind images of political despots eager to ‘reshape the world/in a way that would please autocrats,’ and warns us that ‘observers must be careful not to predict an outcome/just because it would be to their liking.’
Simmons paired the poem with altered photos culled from old issues of National Geographic and Sumi-e ink drawings, both placed together with the text in an elongated lotus-fold book, a playful structure which invites readers to experiment with making their own meaning as they manipulate the pages of the book.
This project has been awarded support from the University of Central Florida’s Women and Gender Studies Program’s Gloria Anzaldúa Research Excellence Award.” - Rachel Simmons
Closed dimensions, 4” x 4” x .5”, open dimensions 8” x 8” x 48”
*Consignment item. Not eligible for 10% membership discount. All consignment purchases are final and non-refundable once shipped.
Rachel Simmons is an American artist and educator based in Orlando, Florida who makes artist’s books, zines and prints. In her creative practice, she explores environmental and social activism, science, philosophy and memory. Since 2000, she has been teaching book arts and printmaking at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and is an active member of CBAA The Association for Book Art Education. Rachel's artist’s books can be found in institutional collections & archives at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Scripps College, Harvard University, The Newberry, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Baylor University, Yale University, The Berkeley Environmental Design Library, The University of Miami and many others.
RachelSimmons.net | Instagram: @BearWithJetPack
