The title to Athena Tacha’s installment in her long-running The Process of Aging project refers to the many “battlegrounds” on which the artist sees herself fighting old age. As always, she is incisive and earnest, reflective and vulnerable: “Do I want to end a fun little essay on such a dreary tone? Unfortunately, dying of old age or illness does not sound like fun! As for now, I hope I will have the option and means of ending my life if it becomes intolerable. I suspect that my present battles may sound like petty problems when I reach the reality of life’s end…”

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.”