Emily hand-binding Mountaintops to Moonscapes

Video: Curtis James

Emily Macaulay of Stanley James press hand-bound each of the 100 books in the edition of Mountaintops to Moonscapes individually.

Mountaintops to Moonscapes comprises a large format softcover book with slip-sleeve and a booklet (buy book here)

In the larger book, Gignoux’s large scale aerial photographs reveal the transformation of a mountainous region of ancient forest to an other-worldly landscape as cratered and bare as a “moonscape.”  Other images throw light on the ways in which this new form of mining has impacted the local community, bringing environmental degradation, job losses, and a host of associated problems, including health problems caused by pollution and opioid addiction. The larger book is bound in four parts, allowing the photos to overlap in different combinations, showing the complicated relationship between environmental issues and the local economy.

In the booklet, the plight of the mining communities in the region is made plain through the words of two Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards who have dedicated themselves to lobbying for changes in the law to stop mountaintop removal mining and limit and mitigate its effect on the environment in Appalachia. At the heart of the booklet is a pop-up paper explosion that gives sculptural form to the mountaintop removal mining process. 

Handbound edition of 100

Softcover book with slip-sleeve
(measuring 350 x 255mm)

56 pages plus small 12-page booklet (measuring 148x210mm) containing an ‘exploding’ pop-up foldout

44 colour photographs

Foreword: Jane Branham
Book Design/Photo Editing:
Stanley James Press and Chloe Juno
Editor: Jenny Christensson

“Received your book today. Thank you! I’m blown away. Brilliant design, pace, and format. Heavy, heavy work,” photographer Roger May.



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