Tang of Height

"The Tang of Height was inspired by Phyllida's discovery of recurring appearance of box kites in the biographies of nineteenth-century scholars. Taking that shape as a metaphor for philosophical method and 20th century thinking, the artist ties together the lives of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alexander Graham Bell, and Nan Shepherd through archival fragments--images and ideas that resonate. These details connect across disciplines, flickering between the abstract and the particular; the philosophical and the personal--a poetry of facts. The form of the book and graphic design conduct the reader and gesture towards alternate readings of reality. The screen-printed illustrations, as inserts, float freely of the text and reveal non-linguistic connections between the stories. The Tang of Height is coptic bound, with a wraparound board cover"--Women's Studio Workshop website.