A Series of Beautifully Crystallized Books

To Kill A Mockingbird

Artist Alexis Arnold uses a solution containing borax to “crystalize” books into twisted shapes and to render the text inside and out unreadable in her series Crystallized Books.

On her website, Arnold wrote about the project’s purpose and inspiration:

The Crystallized Book Series addresses the materiality of the book versus the text or content of the book, in addition to commenting on the vulnerability of the printed book. The crystals remove the text and transform the books into aesthetic, non-functional objects. The books, frozen with crystal growth, have become artifacts or geologic specimens imbued with the history of time, use, and nostalgia. The series was prompted by repeatedly finding boxes of discarded books, by the onset of e-books, and by the shuttering of bookstores.

Linux: The Complete Manual