TATTERDEMALION
Van Vessem Gallery, Tiverton, Rhode Island, 2016-17
Tatterdemalion:
noun
a person in tattered or ragged clothing; a shabby person.
adjective
ragged; unkempt or dilapidated.
origin
1600-10, first written tatter-de-mallian and rhymed with Italian
c.1600, probably from tatter, with fantastic second element, but perhaps also suggested by Tartar,
with a contemporary sense of "vagabond, gypsy."
The exhibition featured collages on pages from a 19th scrap book from Providence, Rhode Island, and books made from a German ledger from 1939-1940, as well as books made on handwritten legal documents from the 17-19th centuries.
