Jared Bark - Book Stacks

I began putting up stacks of books in the fields and woods on our farm in 2012. All I had was an image in my mind’s eye of a column of books standing at the edge of a field surrounded by trees. I left the stacks exposed to the sun and rain, to insects and to mice who chewed on them, and, more than I anticipated, to the wind. Hurricane Sandy came through and other storms and knocked down some of the stacks. Not so long ago, books were trees. They’re made up almost entirely of wood pulp, and their gradual return to the soil feels like a homecoming of sorts.