ARTIST UPCYCLES DISCARDED BOOKS BY CREATING INCREDIBLE MINI MOUNTAIN SCULPTURES

Just as books hold knowledge, ancient mountains have their own stories to tell. With his continuing Bookwork, interdisciplinary artist Guy Laramée has been examining this idea for more than 20 years. He revitalises old, abandoned books by turning their pages into surreal, geological sculptures. 

The striking peaks of the neighbouring Pico da Caledônia serve as inspiration for Laramée, who presently works from his hillside studio in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. In his most recent work, Livros, the artist carves old books and removes their covers using high-pressure water. He can alter the pages as they dry thanks to this technique, turning these old books into realistic, worn stone structures. The finished pieces take viewers to far-off, unearthly mountainscapes and are remarkably realistic and tactile. It's difficult to imagine that each tiny peak or rock was once a book at first glimpse. On closer inspection, however, their sewn bindings and faint printed page traces provide modest clues as to what was originally inside.

Laramée emphasises how humans try to preserve knowledge while nature continues to change and reshape itself over time by transforming educational books like dictionaries and encyclopedias into sculptures that resemble mountains. Geology, time, and the environment are juxtaposed with themes of history and knowledge in each piece.