Cathexis

The colophon states: “It contains works produced over a period of nine years, from 1994 to 2003. All the etchings are hand printed by the artist from the original copper plates on 100% cotton Arches White, 250gsm paper. The lithographs are hand printed and hand coloured using watercolour pigments by the artist from stones at the Artists’ Press and the Fine Arts Division, Wits School of Arts, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa”. Each etching has been printed separately in an edition of five impressions numbered 1/5 to 5/5 except The Lost Men I which was printed in an edition of thirty. Slipcase and binding by Peter Carstens”. Bound in black fabric with an original cancelled plate embedded in the cover.

In psychoanalysis, cathexis is defined as the process of investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea. Freud defined cathexis as an investment of libido, pointing out for example how dream thoughts were cathected with different amounts of affect. A cathexis or emotional charge might be positive or negative. In Emmanuel’s case, this implies the physical and emotional energy poured into the book’s making.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathexis