Caput mortuum

• Main Author: Rollins, David Glenn
• Other Authors: Leonard, Julia Alexander
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of Iowa 2016
• Subjects: publicabstract; Binding; Book Arts; Sculpture; Book and Paper
• Online Access: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3176; https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6556&context=etd

Caput Mortuum is a visual representation of my own spiritual quest for enlightenment using alchemy. Ancient alchemists sought perfection in all things and visualized a personal spiritual hierarchy that resided within all physical matter. The lowest tier of this scale represents the dull and lifeless material while the highest could touch the Divine. Reshaping the material world revealed the ordinary item's latent potential, aiding in its own transformation as well as the alchemist's into more perfect beings. Inspired by this idea, I seek to bring ultimate perfection to every piece I create. By manipulating and altering books and book forms I replicate the physical work alchemists performed, each time changing myself with the book, elevating our spiritual beings in order to bring perfection from within.