Achsa - "I Still Live" Print

Achsa—I STIIL LIVE— Sprague (1827 - 1862) was a trance speaker and poet, active in the antebellum Spiritualist movement. On August 24, 2020, I made a pilgrimage to her hometown of Plymouth Notch, Vermont. I sat with her tombstone, which is inscribed with the words “I Still Live,” the title of her passionate 1862 missive, “I Still Live, a Poem for these Times.” This work speaks directly to a nation in crisis. These words on her tombstone are now almost illegible.

This Riso print bears the imprint of my grave rubbing of her first name (pronounced like “Ax-Ah!”), with a tracing below of “I Still Live,” from a digital photo I took of her tombstone — my handwriting brings these words back to life.

Upon every sale, I trace the outline of my hand upon the back of the print and divine some lines for the buyer from a book of Sprague’s collected poems, published two years after her death at the age of 34.

— 8 1/2” by 11” Riso print, printed by Snake Hair Press. Edition of 50. Lavender paper with burgundy ink. To be dated when the divination takes place.