"Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941." This is the opening sentence of Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, published in 1970. Where they grow, flowers and plants are written into the story as recurring symbols of safe prosperity. The marigolds’ explicit absence from the world of The Bluest Eye at the outset of the novel struck me, and I frequently returned to this sentence, almost like a ritual, as I read the book. Unable to get the passage out of my mind, I set out to design and then make a small artist book that could capture and convey these words I sought to memorialize.

This 6-page pamphlet-bound accordion structure features various images of marigolds to accompany Toni Morrison’s sentence. They are letterpress printed with heavily transparent ink on both sides of a translucent and crisp handmade paper. These prints aim to underline the beauty of Morrison’s writing, all the while rendering the heart-wrenching absence of the marigolds. To further honor the flower that opens this novel, the book’s covers, also made from handmade paper, are brushed with marigold dye.

Marigolds was produced in an edition of 18 copies, with the permission of Toni Morrison and Penguin Random House.

2019. Typographic, relief, and pressure printing on handmade papers from overbeaten abaca and cotton fibers; ink, marigold dye, and linen thread. Pamphlet-bound accordion. 7” x 3¾” (closed), 7” x 20½” (open)