TATTERDEMALION

Van Vessem Gallery, Tiverton, Rhode Island, 2016-17

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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."

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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.