Doug Keyes, The Holy Bible (1950), 1999

In his series “Collective Memory,” Doug Keyes explores the experience of reading a physical book. With a background in graphic design, Keyes is highly attuned to processes of conveying and receiving information and images. He is interested in the ways in which knowledge “stacks upon itself over time, leaving an impression or collective memory.” Attempting to recreate this ephemeral process, Keyes photographed pages in books from his own collection, as well as in texts suggested by his friends. He superimposed the resulting images, producing a version of each book condensed onto a single page. By deliberately manipulating the photographic process, Keyes examines how such commanding, canonical texts as the Christian bible permeate cultural consciousness over time.

Stamp Gallery, 2016