Lake Washington Palimpsest.

Seattle, Washington:: Grey Zone Press,, 2009.. Edition of 25. 10 x 8.25"; 77 numbered pages. Hardcover with illustrated dust jacket. Illustrated throughout with reproductions of original pinhole photographs by the author. Accompanied by an original archival carbon print. Signed and numbered by the artist. Laid in paper folder with twine closure. Northwest Museum of Art: "Ellen Sollod explores Seattle's Lake Washington and the effect upon its shores, wetlands, and tributaries due to the 1916 construction of the Ballard Locks and the digging of the Montlake Cut. Like a palimpsest, different environmental histories were written and erased, and new ones inscribed atop and around the Lake. Sollod uncovers these layers in an exhibition that charts the history of the massive project and its ripple effects over decades, with large-scale pinhole photographs, maps, statistics, and sound recordings. The exhibition is held in conjunction with the release of Ellen Sollod's book, Lake Washington Palimpsest."  Ellen Sollod: "The 1917 completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the Montlake Cut dramatically lowered Lake Washington. Shorelines were created; the Black River disappeared; routinely flooded places became dry and dry places, wet. Over the last year, I began researching this transformation, fascinated by the impact of man on the landscape. Like a palimpsest, the lake and wetlands were partially removed to make room for another text. Today, wetlands are reclaiming some of those areas and returning them to their earlier form. In others, man's encroachment remains. "This is my attempt to reveal the illusive story of this intervention: my research, and a selection of pinhole photographs and soundscapes I composed in response to this altered landscape."