Rebecca Nemser

“I sup­pose I read so many biogra­phies because I was try­ing to under­stand how peo­ple stum­bled through their days and their fail­ures and spun their mis­eries and despair into great art or path­break­ing sci­ence or pro­found enlightenment.”

The prayers were long, thin strips of paper or can­vas, newsprint, pho­tographs, or tin­sel, embell­ished with draw­ings, paint, cut‑outs, dried ros­es, gold leaf, but­tons, beads. Some were abstract; some had words; oth­ers had musi­cal nota­tions writ­ten on them. One prayer was made from a piece of old, paint‑splattered blue jeans, with a peace sym­bol and love beads.