Cara Barer crafts a tangible record of the book as an object, resisting its encroaching obsolescence in the face of digital repositories of information. The physicality of these books is expressed in their manipulation – they are sculpted, soaked, twisted, dyed and otherwise altered beyond recognition, assuming the form of a beautiful new object. Their fragility and ephemeral nature, both in the face of technological progress and in their literal malleability is commemorated. The individual character of a book, including its size, type of paper and content determines the direction of a photograph – chance and experimentation also play a big role. Barer relies upon personal and found items that have fallen out of use; more precious tomes often do not make it through the transformation process. This photographic compendium of lost texts also explores our changing approach to research, with online resources replacing seemingly outdated reference materials. www.carabarer.com.