binding analysis: double bind
This artist’s book is called binding analysis: double bind by Heather Weston. It offers a representation of the experience of schizophrenia. The form of the book is integral to this function.
Binding analysis: double bind, as the title suggests, is bound on both the left and right sides and splits down the center to open. The title hints at the significance of the physical form of the book. This format allows for four pages to be revealed at any one time.
Several narratives are presented throughout the pages. There are clinical notes that run across the split of the closed pages; there are patient notes that fail to align, partially because of the placement on the page and largely because of the unfamiliar interaction of recto/verso in this double bound book; and there are textless pages with photographs. Perhaps it can even be argued that the form itself is another narrative as it layers explanation to the functionality of the book.
In order to understand the significance of the form, this book demands the reader to interact with the model of recto/verso. Pages must be flipped and choices must be made about the double bound interaction of pages. The recto/verso model of two-sidedness and ability to be turned allows this book to be successful in attributing form to function.
