Long before the printed word became a thing of speed, convenience and algorithmic disposability, books held a different kind of authority. They were objects of knowledge, devotion and social power, made to be preserved, protected and passed down, their pages carrying the weight of language and of collective belief.
This June, Sanderson presents Sacrosanct, the latest evolution of Mickey Smith’s award-winning photographic practice, extending her decades-long inquiry into the physical and social significance of literary texts and archives. Having previously turned her lens towards bound periodicals in public stacks, Smith now enters more rarefied territory, focusing on centuries-old religious manuscripts that carry an anthropological weight alongside something quieter, more enigmatic and meditative.
Photographed in The Chained Library of Hereford Cathedral in the United Kingdom and the Strahov Library in Prague, the works document ancient volumes with forensic intimacy, revealing the material character of texts that have survived as spiritual artefacts and as historical evidence. Smith’s strict ‘as found’ methodology remains central to the project. Nothing is touched, staged or artificially manipulated; instead, the books are captured exactly as they exist in situ, their bindings, surfaces and surroundings allowed to speak with their own delicate eloquence.
The result is a body of work that considers what these manuscripts contain and what they continue to powerfully signify.
Exhibition dates: 27th May until 21st June
