Diane Samuels: It's A Long Story

Diane Samuels is a visual artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. In her studio practices, Samuels uses other peoples' words and her own handwriting as her literal and figurative raw material.

For this exhibition, Samuels has created monumental works by writing out the texts of entire novels in micro-script. The centerpiece is a hand-transcription of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, written on remnants of archival paper and recycled prints that Samuels has painted over, drawn on and collaged with images pertaining to the text. Each page of the book is represented by a horizontal row of the drawing, starting with “Call me Ishmael” at the top of the work, which measures 48 feet long by 8 feet wide.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.