Pangolin Pandemic by Gabby Cooksey and written by Francesco Petrarch.

Tacoma, WA. Winter 2021.

Edition of 6.

Letterpress printed with handset type at Springtide Press.

Cloth, paper, and wallpaper make up the scales.

Bound in goat, vellum, paper and gold foil.

Montage sur onglets binding.

Artist Statement:

Pangolin Pandemic, is about two stories scaled into one. The imagery shows the life of a pangolin while it is being poached; alive, curled up in defense, killed, hung up, and then descaled while also telling a story from the plague in 1348 with Francesco Petrarch’s words. 

The pangolin is the most trafficked mammal in the world: its scales are primarily used in traditional Eastern medicine, exotic hides, and as luxury meat sold in wet markets. Stories of the pangolin being the disease vector for COVID-19 were popular at the outset, but conditions of wet markets and human activity is the suspected source. During my time making this book, COVID-19 spread across the world infecting millions. Francesco’s words feel like they were spoken in 2020, not during the Bubonic Plague era. There will soon be a vaccine and pangolin’s are getting much needed worldwide protection from poaching.

The scales were a large draw to me when I first saw the taxidermic animal on the table at the Slater Natural History Museum, their pattern was mesmerizing. How can I recreate that pattern in a collage? How can I make the viewer want to touch my book and possibly make it feel like a pangolin (albeit a fake one). The search for the right paper and fabric was on to recreate their scaly pattern. All different thicknesses of vintage wallpaper, paste paper, fabric backed with Japanese paper, and unique papers were all shaped to mimic these mammals making you want to run your hands over it. 

Putting the COVID-19 spotlight on these gentle ant-eating mammals might be the best thing to happen to them, since most people do not know what a pangolin even is. Francesco’s words put into perspective of what was happening 650 years ago, but also how devastating it is today. There is hope though, and that’s what keeps us and the pangolin’s moving forward.