Recovery, the return of something that has been lost or stolen.

Studies estimate that 26 million acres of federal land were under lease to oil and gas developers in the United States. Of that, 12.8 million acres are producing oil and gas in economic quantities. Undeveloped leases tie up land that the government would otherwise manage for conservation or recreation purposes.

From Structure of Typical American Oil Fields: A Symposium on the Relation of Oil Accumulation to Structure, Volume 1, 1927. Reprinted 1957.

The original book consisted of thirty papers on the program of the twelfth annual convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists at Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 23, 25, and 26, 1927. I chose to recover the book in hand painted paper and display the spine. The tipped-in etchings depict the landscape of my familial homeland of Oklahoma. The copper plates used to make the images embody the destruction associated with the petroleum industry. Various etching techniques along with long etching time and multiple resists were used to create the etchings. The images mimic what is happening below the surface of our Earth due to industrial extraction.

I find an uncanny and honest beauty revealed in the destruction and recovery of the Structure of Typical American Oil Fields cover, along with removing some of the contents.