VAPES & BUTTS

Limited-edition photographic artist book, 2026

Purchased by the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives for its livres d’artiste collection.

Vapes & Butts brings together photographs of discarded cigarette butts, disposable vapes, and related found objects in an artist book published in an edition of five. Drawing on Irving Penn’s Cigarettes, the work considers consumption, memory, and the environmental traces of contemporary smoking culture.

The book features reproductions of Michelle Leone Huisman’s original gum bichromate over palladium prints. These slow, historical printing processes lend permanence to objects designed to be used and discarded. Carefully sequenced across 23 numbered plates, with Butt No. 23 – Ode To Penn as the frontispiece, the photographs invite close attention to overlooked remnants of everyday life.

With a foreword by Peter Higdon and an afterword by Michael Tardioli, the book was designed and produced by Huisman and Tardioli, printed at SPAO Media Labs in Ottawa, and bound by Don Taylor in Toronto.

Book details

• Edition of 5 numbered copies, plus 4 artist proofs
• 63 pages, including a frontispiece and 23 numbered plates
• Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper
• Baskerville typeface
• Book dimensions: 36.5 × 32.5 × 2 cm
• Black linen cover with matching black linen slipcase
• ISBN: 978-1-0697986-0-2

Availability

Copies 4/5 and 5/5 are available for purchase. Please inquire for purchase.