1/17/2015

Benjamin Lord - Oral Culture Book Release

Los Angeles Contemporary Archive is pleased to host the release of Oral Culture, a new artist book by Benjamin Lord. Part prose and part verse, the book explores the relationship between the spoken and the written word. The text transforms and refigures a group of ancient Yurok myths onto and against the patois of modern hip hop. Colliding the dense, atomic style of recitation common to California Indian myth with the jagged streaming flow of contemporary lyric verse, the story is at once a literary fable of revenge, a meditation on the problems of early anthropology, a satire of collapsed cultural memory, and a mystical vision of a California beyond space and time.

Benjamin Lord has been making sculptures, photographs, drawings, portfolios and books for nearly twenty years. He received his MFA from UCLA in 2002. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Walker Art Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Contemporary Archive is dedicated to the documentation and dissemination of contemporary artist publishing. The archive celebrates process and the multiple as vehicles for independent creative thought. The facilities create a unique environment for critical inquiry, research and dialogue. LACA’s archive of artist books, objects, and digital material is open Tuesday-Thursday 12pm-6pm and Saturdays by appointment.

More info visit Facebook