The first fragment of Tacha’s on-going thorough self-analysis and description to be completed by the end of my life was recorded at the age of 38, and chronicles the artist’s history of self-scrutiny beginning with adolescence. She examines changes in her physique that have occurred since, and offers insight into their causes. A daring and unflinching self-portrait of a woman on the precipice of middle age, Tacha seems less interested in making a comment on society’s observations of women as they age as she is in documenting the process in vivid detail as a means of navigating these observations in an intimate and personal way, turning the process inward and taking ownership of aging.

From our exhibition Athena Tacha, The Complete Bookworks 1970 to Present: “Tacha’s accordion-fold pocket books are “meditations on a particular aspect of life, describing ordinary acts and phenomena such as scratching dandruff from the scalp, considering which groceries to buy in the supermarket, or the appearance of wrinkles with age. Tacha’s reflections bring to light the broader implications of these seemingly commonplace events, making allusions to the ecological, sociological, and political impacts of our personal choices and emotions and visa versa. Just as often, Tacha’s reflections stay within the intimate scope of the act or object described and leave the reader to draw their own conclusions.”