The Fisher Library is pleased to present the Canadian debut of artist Christine Davis' The Elements (Knowledge of Life), a unique 144-page artist’s book that unfolds across disciplines, geographies, and histories.
The Elements (Knowledge of Life) deploys an original 1847 edition of Euclid’s foundational geometric treatise by the mathematician Oliver Byrne. This unique and visually rich version of the work utilizes color to explain mathematical and geometric concepts. A technical innovation of its time, Davis places the revolutionary impact of the printing press in dialogue with today’s algorithmic transformation of knowledge.
Constructed in a monumental concertina format, the book unfolds into multiple configurations, transforming the geometry of Euclid’s propositions into a living, visual language. Rather than illustrating Euclidean principles, the work reimagines them through collage, layering fragments of image, text, and material into shifting rhythms and narratives.
As it stretches across space, the book becomes both object and performance — a codex that resists closure and invites recombination. In its scale and structure, it echoes Euclid’s ambition to order the world, while simultaneously unsettling that order by staging knowledge as contingent, embodied, and alive in the present.
Developed in dialogue with a network of thinkers exploring abstraction, life sciences, and metamorphosis, The Elements finds its ideal setting at the Fisher Library, an institution dedicated to inquiry, reference, and the mutable structures of knowledge.
The opening reception will take place on Friday, October 24, 2025, from 5–7 PM in the seminar room of the Fisher Library. The evening will begin with opening remarks by John Shoesmith, Special Collections Librarian at the Fisher, followed by a panel discussion on The Elements featuring Christine Davis, Thyrza Goodeve, Janine Marchessault, and John Shoesmith. The event will also celebrate the launch of ARCANA Volume One, a publication curated by the artist in collaboration with John Shoesmith and Anna Kovler.
Installed like an extended chromosome, the 90 ft. artist’s book will be on view in its entirety within the library seminar room from 1–4 PM on select days:
Friday November 21st
Saturday November 22nd
Friday December 12th
Saturday December 13th