Don Kirby: You're not really initiated (One Picture Book #15, w/ Print)

…you’re not really initiated until your eyes are redder than your lips Deserted school house and its graffiti walls From the Publisher: While Don Kirby was working on his Wheatcountry images (see page 23) he photographed a now-deserted schoolhouse and became fascinated by the generations of graffiti scrawled upon its walls. As is so often the case, some of the most meaningful comments in – and on – life are to found in places where they are not expected. Kirby’s black-and-white photographs immortalize pearls of profundity that would more usually inspire removal than recording: the book’s title, for example, or the equally delicious “There have been no dragons in my life, only spiders and girls . . . I could have coped with dragons.” Wheatcountry, Don Kirby’s first monograph, was published to wide international acclaim, and documented a subject close to the artist’s heart since childhood. Of his follow-up One Picture Book, the artist writes: “Printing the graffiti, I became much more aware of the significance this place has for me and the importance I attach to saying something about it. The Wheatcountry book was completed by the essays, which were needed to convey aspects the photographs miss. This statement is complete in the photographs. Limited quantity available.