The Price of Words, Places to Remember 1−26
Lily Markiewicz (1992)
The Price of Words is an amalgamation of two archetypal forms of the book: the alphabet book from which children learn to read and the memory book. The book’s subtitle Places to Remember 1−26 links the alphabetical plan of the book to the injunction to remember, so important in Judaism and Jewish culture. The ‘places’ are pages of the book, though reference is made within them to actual places − lived in, moved from, arrived at, passed through, never named or identified.
Black and white photographs that show sand pouring into a metal bowl preface the alphabetical section of the book. These images have an ambiguous quality, caught between movement and stillness, negative and positive. The book is not a straightforward memorial observance: it addresses the need within Jewish culture not only of the importance of remembering but of the need to forget.
