Michael Maranda
Fragment (Heraclitus)
embossed paper
each 28x36cm
1998
statement . . .
Heraclitus, an early Greek philosopher, comes to us in fragments. Perhaps his most enduring aphorism is:
“No man can cross the same river twice, because neither the man nor the river are the same.” The basic gist
of his thought is that reality is change, while stasis and permanence is an illusion. The vast majority of the known fragments
are, however, extremely obscure if not downright unintelligible. Much of the scholarship on his work is in placing these
fragments into a plausible context.
In this project, he serves as a stand-in for pre-Socratic thought. All the known fragments of his thought, in English
translations, are embossed on cheap scrapbook paper. The roughness of the paper, and the evenness of gallery lighting,
renders the braille as near invisible (much like the text works in Fy). Once the braille is recognised, however, it remains
(for most viewers, anyway) just as unintelligible. (Please note that the image above was photographed in raking
light to make the braille visible).
exhibitions . . .
2004
• 2 person. “Traductions,” Galerie Occurence (Montréal)