Classification of a Spit Stain (Hardcover)

Artist: Ellie Ga

Publisher: Ugly Duckling Presse (2009)

Classification of a Spit Stain is the result of Ellie Ga’s two-year project photographing and analyzing stains on city pavements throughout the world. Accompanying the photographs is a classification system which organizes the stains according to various qualities such as substance and longevity. A combination of urban flaneurie and garbology, Classification of a Spit Stain is a mysterious field guide to the landscape underneath the soles of our shoes. The original version of this artist book, made in an edition of twenty-five copies, is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, Yale University, Brown University, and UCLA’s Dickson Library, among others. This trade edition was produced in response to sustained interest. This book was funded in part by grants from the NEA and from the Jerome Foundation (via CLMP).

"In Classification of a Spit Stain, the marks, stains and textural details of urban sidewalks are meticulously documented and photographed to surprising effect by Ellie Ga. Ga acts as a scientist/anthropologist/garbologist addressing human relics left on sidewalks."

–Denise Dooley