During the summer of 2020, I lived with my family in a small house in northern Minnesota. It was a time of isolation, mourning, and floating in uncertainty. We occasionally took long walks exploring the surrounding woods, where we found remnants of the past: abandoned cars, decaying farm equipment, and piles of rocks cleared from former cow pastures. These wanderings became engrained as remembered pathways, and the artifacts evolved into designated landmarks.

Reflecting on the landscape, I created a series of drawings in our garage attic near a window overlooking a large meadow. These drawings are small cairns marking time, a mound of delicate lines built with Conté crayon on recycled grey paper. Each gesture I made on the page piled on the previous ones, transforming the collection into a small monument. I imagined these figures emerging as memorials during this period of grief. They also served as markers for navigation, guiding me through the unknown and offering me a place to reflect on my position. They became WAYSTONES.

The pages of each book in this edition are assembled in random order. This means each reader begins and exits their journey through the drawings at a different location. -Publisher