God and the Others
God and the Others is an ongoing exploration of archived memory and moving-image art. It began with a retired library book—a forgotten vessel of collective stores—which was transformed over several years into a canvas of intricate illustrations, drawings, and stream-of-consciousness animations.
Process
This retired library book accompanied me everywhere as a constant companion, stowed in my backpack through coffee shops, travels, and late-night sessions at home, receiving intense bursts of creative attention or quiet periods of neglect as life shifted around it. Over several years, its pages became a dynamic, evolving canvas shaped by an organic, immersive process of detailed illustrations, drawings, and stream-of-consciousness animations. Acting as a deeply intimate personal journal, every fold, margin, and block of printed text absorbed the passage of time, daily thoughts, and reflections on my life around it. This gradual accumulation of personal memory and layered visual intervention transformed a discarded vessel of collective stories into an archive of lived experience. This extensive, multi-year evolution ultimately culminated in the finalization of the physical book piece in 2025, capturing a unique intersection of time, narrative, memory, and handcrafted experimentation.
Installation
To translate the intimate, handmade nature of the altered book into a larger-scale public experience, the project expands outward into an immersive kinetic installation. Fabricated as a massive, monumental replica of the book’s illustrated cover, the sculpture bridges physical craftsmanship with contemporary digital media. Inside this structure, two synchronized monitors are housed like an open spread, bringing the multi-year journal animations to life and recreating the deliberate, tactile motion of turning pages. This physical-digital hybrid piece is currently on display at Char in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of the annual ArtPrize festival, inviting audiences to step inside an expanded archive of memory, time, and narrative.
Dusty Deen is a contemporary artist, filmmaker, and experimental animator based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their practice specializes in experimental moving-image artwork that explores innovative and immersive storytelling.
Contact him and follow his work HERE..
