Ryan Pierce: Book Release Event
The River in the Cellar
May 24, 6 pm
Please join Portland-artist Ryan Pierce at Elizabeth Leach Gallery to celebrate the release of The River in the Cellar, a work of short fiction with corresponding illustrations hidden and to be found by each reader. The narrative of The River in the Cellar guides the reader on a scavenger hunt, using clues in the text, locating and assembling the printed color plates that complete the book. The original source paintings will be on display in the back office gallery and copies of the book will be for sale. The artist will give a short reading at 6:30 pm. Set in the fictional city-state of Multnomah, The River in the Cellar tells a story of a refugee who is seeking a home. The story takes place in the future depicted in Pierce’s paintings. It’s a world responding to catastrophic climate change and the collapse of the nation-state. In its place are self-governance, community resilience, and a recentering of human society around the health of natural systems. The story leads the reader into a future with questions about the roles of justice, human industry, and the place of our species in an altered world.