If the center tower of this piece is reminiscent of a DNA helix, that’s no coincidence. I see the written word and books as part of our DNA as humans, and an essential part of our makeup and history. Various book text pages were folded into signatures (a group of folded pages) and sewn onto wires, which were then twisted into this form. The leaves and other organic shapes that appear in the piece reinforce the idea that books and the ideas and stories that spring from them are indeed living things that need to be nurtured and given a chance to grow (all photos by Mark Elson).