Artist Books-Inspired Exhibitions

Common Things Debuts Books as Objects, Books as Memory

Common Things, a design-forward boutique and curatorial platform in Manhattan's East Village, has presented Books as Objects, Books as Memory. This exhibition positions artist books as active sites of meaning and explores how material form itself can speak, bear witness, and preserve memory.

The Books as Objects, Books as Memory exhibition centers on two artist books by Rhea Karam, published by Small Editions, which emerged from her family's experience of wartime displacement from Lebanon in 1982. One work features a concrete slipcase whose physical density directly mirrors the weight of history. Surrounding Karam's work is a curated selection of books united by recurring themes of home and longing, loss and retrieval, belonging and exile.

The Books as Objects, Books as Memory exhibition unfolds within Common Things' intimate storefront, a space shaped by narrative intention where founder Komal Kehar has long positioned retail as a curatorial practice.

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