_edited.png)
fiction & creative writing
Since 2022, Fermor has been writing The Devil Finally Gets His Rest. Though they have experience with non-fiction and criticism, this is their first novel-length fiction project.
Louie would like to thank Calgary Arts Development for supporting the development of the first draft.
To get updates about the writing process and see how the book is coming along, follow Louie's Patreon.
art with books & writing
A MAP OF LONELY BOOKS
Hollowed book, paper
2016
A Map of Lonely Books was installed in the Alberta University of the Arts' Luke Lindoe Library. The map could be found in a hollowed-out book that was hidden in the stacks among the library's regular collection. Inside, there was a list of call numbers and titles. If the reader used the Dewey numbers like map coordinates, they could find different titles in the collection that represented different kinds of loneliness. Readers were only asked to return the dusty book to its home once they were finished.
A MAP OF HOLLOW SPACES
Hollowed book, paper
2017
As a part of the Intersite Visual Arts Festival, five hollow books were placed among the shelves of Memorial Park Library. All of which were left empty, save for a map (in the form of a list of call numbers). It would lead to where the other hollow books around the library.
When we place something into a hollow book, we give it value. Libraries, similarly, categorize information into a specific space, according to their potential use and value to the surrounding community.
But what if nothing is placed inside the hollow of these books? What if instead we imply a value to the quality of hollowness itself. The phenomenological architecture of a “hollow” is unique: it's defined by its lack of something, or its preparedness for something else.
The space of a hollow book, much like that of a library, offers an interior that is both purposeful as well as full of intellectual, imaginative, and anonymous possibility. The rooms, the shelves, and the quiet of a library (along with the very nature of reading) are all resources for an introverted experience. A Map of Hollow Spaces contrasts the book’s small nothing-spaces with the larger library that is, after years of being lived in and used, anything but hollow.
To: C
Glass bottles, paper, ink, feathers, petals, pen nibs, saw dust, match sticks, dried chamomile, string, beeswax, gold leaf
2017
To: C (2014) was a gesture of loneliness and forgiveness. Thirty-two "message in a bottle"s were distributed to an audience of thirty-two people. The audience was told that the artist had fallen out with a friend and wished to make a small gesture of possible contact with the friend. The only detail the audience was given about this person was that they would respond to the name starting with"C", and that you could confirm it was the right person if they recognized the second name, starting with A. If it was the right person, you were to give them the bottle, with the message. It was made clear to the audience members that the bottle was not for them, and that they should only see it opened if they ever met this "C".
The bottles each contain a line or two of writing, and a small token that reminded the artist of their lost friend.
