Kathryn Maxwell
Goodbye to M, 1991
Colored pulp, screenprint, relief, collage
24 1/2 x 19 inches

Kathryn Maxwell’s print is thick with colored paper pulp and collaged parrots; all of these elements have been pressed and then other parts of the print were relief printed. The print’s borders include a series of iconographic elements such as minarets, moons, stars, and, possibly, Turkish writing. These calligraphic designs frame three screenprinted and collaged birds, possibly Rose-Ringed Parakeets, one of two species indigenous to Turkey. Behind the birds and in the center of the print, images from a series of engraved cosmic diagrams float in the background. From Robert Fludd’s 1617-21 multi-volume publication, Utriusque cosmi…historia, or History of Two Worlds, a proposed history of the cosmos that focuses on human life (microcosmos) and the heavens (macrocosomos), these circular diagrams were from one of his frontispieces. At either side of the print, flowers (maybe roses) mirror each other. The left is in bud while the right flower blooms, and its petals have started to fall off. Maxwell has said that the print is about saying goodbye to friends when she lived in Turkey, a common phrase in many languages but one that also means in Turkish culture to ensure a safe return.