Melbourne artist Kylie Stillman uses scalpel blades, jigsaws, sewing materials and drills to alter books, creating ‘negative spaces that depict “signs of life”‘. The word ‘venation’ refers to the arrangement of veins on a leaf or in an insect's wing.
— World of the book, SLV

The State Library of Victoria recently acquired Kylie Stillman's The Venatian for the Rare Books Collection.

The artwork is currently on display as part of its permanent World of the book exhibition in the Dome Galleries. 

World of the book celebrates the unique place books have in our hearts and minds. See rare medieval manuscripts and sacred texts, magnificent natural history and botanical illustration, stunning modern artist books and fine press editions, as well as pioneering Australian classics, children’s books, graphic novels and comics. 

The Venation explores the textural quality of paperback books, and draws a quiet parallel between leaves in nature and the leaves of a book, both of which contain stories — and sometimes absences — that can be read. 

Kylie is an RMIT alumni and currently a sessional lecturer in BA (Fine Art) — painting at RMIT.