Etel Adnan: Weight Of The World describes itself as a collection marking the occasion of Adnan’s first solo exhibition in a public institution in the UK, at the age of 91, in the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in 2016. The first part of the book pays homage to Adnan’s polymathic career in a number of essays, prose and poems by artists and writers about their experiences of Etel Adnan and her work. The contributors reflect upon their connection with Adnan and their thoughts about her extensive works both artistic, linguistic. While many of the contributors comment on her political writings and exploration of language in her art, all of the writings include how much energy Adnan’s piece contain and how much they inspire other artists. As Hans Ulrich Obrist quotes Simone Fattal another contributor and close friend of Adnan: ‘Her [Adnan’s] paintings both exude energy and give energy… paintings as pure energy’.
This is illustrated in the second part of the book which shows full pages plates of some of Adnan’s paintings and drawings chronologically from the 1960’s to 2016. Colour and shape is key in her work and calligraphic style lines feature throughout her drawings. Oil paint, ceramics and illustrated screens feature as key media throughout the plates.
