Bessie Smith Moulton

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Companion was created for an international 'edible book' day at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine in 2004. Its pages were made of three thin slices of white bread, out of which the syllables making up the word COM-PAN-ION were cut. The same letters were made from dark bread and inserted in the holes. Each panel was backed by another piece of white bread and glued with peanut butter. The tryptic was bound together by threads of limp spaghetti. Over the following two years the book took on a life of its own. I documented its evolution by creating a paper book which followed it as it morphed into a complex garden of microscopic flowers which became manna for other life forms. I also played with the etymology or morphemes of the word Companion.
Each book has its separate compartment in a custom-made plexiglass box, silkscreened with the definition of Companion. The 20-page book combines archival printing with handpainted pages. One of a kind.