Name/TitleM A R Y
About this objectHardback book with slipcase (both dusky pink) titled 'M A R Y', the first release from the donor's new imprint Awen Press: "The book contains 22 acrylic engravings of women and plants, reflecting my deep interest and dependence on Mother Nature and the effect we have on her. Our planet is in decline. In a few decades, we have broken a system it took her 4.5 billion years to make, a devastating fact we have learnt to accommodate with a blind eye. All wisdom comes from hard experience, and so these images attempt to show this honestly, to lift the blindfold - my own as much as anyone else’s. But I also believe in love and hope and seek to remind the reader that the healing is within the earth herself. I hope to offer more than just a mirror or a shocking image. I learnt so much from working in nature reserves, and a key lesson was witnessing the power and certainty of natural regeneration. We don’t have to do anything to recover her, other than to stop hurting her. She can recover on her own. If we can but hold our hope and reduce our engagement with the current culture of arrogant consumption and assumption, we can return to a more harmonious partnership as a part of her system, not apart from it."
Gifted to GWL on behalf of Joanne Behm and Bill Severson;
Images courtesy of Helen Moss, Awen Press.
MakerMoss, Helen
Maker RoleAuthor, Artist and Publisher
Edition22/50
Date Made2025
Period2020s
Medium and MaterialsOrganic, board and paper
Place MadeEngland, Oldham
Place NotesMade in Oldham but donor (and Awen Press) has recently moved to Creetown.
Inscription and MarksBack page (Colophon), centre, in pencil:
22/50 ~ Helen Moss
MeasurementsH: 380 x W: 270 x D: 18 mm
Subject and Association Keywordscontemporary art & design
Subject and Association Keywordsenvironment - art
Subject and Association KeywordsEnvironment - ecology
Subject and Association KeywordsClimate activism, climate justice
Subject and Association Descriptionhttps://www.helen-moss.com/about.html:
AWEN PRESS is the private press of artist and printer, Helen Moss. I work in the tradition of entirely hand made, and limited edition private press books and ephemera prints. My images are hand carved acrylic or lino plates, and printed at the Incline Press workshop on our Albion Press, Arab or other manual printing presses. I make images from intuition, based on my painting practice and regular drawing or monoprinting on glass, exploring contemporary expressive printmaking within the tradition of the letterpress book crafts. The text is all hand set using a variety of moveable metal types, locked into a chase and printed on fine papers with the final book being hand sewn and bound in house. Printing is a slow and beautifully off grid, low impact artform using upcycled or antique tools, materials and machines, and a wide variety of skilled processes. Awen is a Celtic word that means inspiration (often poetic inspiration), intuition or a flowing energy. It is also a female name, and sets for me a deliberate intention to bring a little magic, and a little balance to the largely male dominated private press scene [continues].
Named CollectionGlasgow Women's Library
Object TypeBook
Object numberGWL-2025-49
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved