Black Rose Press ~ Texas
( Susan Kae Grant )

Radioactive Substances
By Susan Kae Grant
Dallas, Texas: Black Rose Press , 1994 - 1997. Edition of 20.

5 x 6 x 2" hinged lead box containing test tubes and book. Quotations and illustrations printed on lead pages, spiral bound. Text paraphrased from Eve Curie's biography of her mother printed on scrolls slipped into glass test tubes.

Susan Kae Grant: "It is an interpretation of Marie Curie's graduate dissertation, which was presented at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, in 1903. While illustrating her scientific research, it provides a personal look into her life as mother, wife, scientist, the dangerous conditions she worked in, and consequently the physiological effects she and her husband suffered.

"Each book contains 15 photographs and 15 text pages that juxtapose historic photographic images with text illustrating summaries written from Curie's experiments on the scientific discovery of Radium. The pages are made out of one pound lead sheeting. The photographic images were scanned from a variety of historic sources and printed directly on the surface of the lead using the Polaroid Emulsion Transfer Process.

"Theoretically, this bookwork artistically portrays and examines the life of Marie Curie while addressing feminist issues related to the exclusion of women in science. It chronicles her life and achievements as a scientist and articulates her ability to balance her obsession for knowledge and scientific inquiry with her duties as a wife and mother."

Radioactive Substances was created for the exhibition Science and the Artist’s Book held at the Smithsonian Institution.
$3,500 copy 17
$5,800 copy 18
$8,000 copy 19
$10,000 copy 20