This Paper is Made of Books, by Noa Vigny Billick, is a thesis presented to OCAD University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design.

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The purpose of this Master of Fine Arts thesis is to demonstrate the value of the book as art and to highlight the power of narrative. This project pushes boundaries to prove a point, and reframes the book less as a literary form than a shifting cultural object. THIS PAPER IS MADE OF BOOKS is about many things, but is really about books, how we communicate, and what we trust to hold that communication: not only the object but the oral tradition it intermingles with, too. Books are special and unique, and irreplaceable: the book is both symbol and object, and needs to be reintroduced as such to demonstrate its actual value.  This is a paper made of books, and therefore is a book itself. This book is broken into parts, each referring to and expanding on one key idea: the book as self and as archive. This book’s research is rooted in bookmaking and its evolving process, closely followed by Jewishness and its sharing nature. This book is balanced: it contains humour, seriousness, personal anecdotes, and theories; it is a clear refusal of obsolescence. This book embraces its reader, welcomes them, and invites them to participate. This book shares a softness, a sensitive and personal approach to a thesis, in a way that invites discussion, reflection, and welcomes all to the table.

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From this thesis comes an exhibition, called THIS ROOM IS MADE OF BOOKS, and, you guessed it, it is a room made of books. These books, as objects, are symbols of self: this room is made of books because it is made of me!