Let’s Live Here by Jamie Lynn Schilling
Six thickly bound books make up this typical block of Philadelphia row homes, reflecting my interest in the hidden stories of my own neighborhood. In any community there is significance, meaning, and sometimes tension between who lives next to whom, much like books on a shelf. I use the book form as a metaphor, implying that there are stories here. Each carefully embroidered brick begs a closer look, an investigation of those stories. The altered books that comprise the text blocks vary in their content, though the narrative cannot be read from cover to cover. The stories of this community are found in the relationships between the books.