A Denali Book of Hours is a lavishly illustrated meditation on wilderness by artist and writer Emily Jan. It is set against the spectacular backdrop of Denali National Park, where  Jan was an Artist in Residence during the summer of 2016.

In June of 2016, Emily Jan had the opportunity to live and work in one of the last great American wildernesses as an Artist in Residence at Denali National Park. This 104-page lavishly illustrated book is a product of that residency. It was written, illustrated, and designed by Jan over the course of one year, between Alaska and Montreal, Quebec. Loosely based upon the Liturgy of the Hours, the narrative is at once linear (east to west along the park road), sinusoidal (low elevation to high elevation to low elevation again) and circular (following the orbit of the summer solstice sun). At its heart, the book is a celebration of both the wild and the familiar – the belief being that we protect what we love, and at this moment in history, wilderness deserves both our love and our protection more than ever before.

EMILY JAN is a Montreal-based artist and writer. Originally hailing from Northern California, Jan has traveled to 33 countries and lived in four, including South Africa and Mexico. Her biophilic sculptures and installations combine everyday found objects with meticulously worked raw materials to evoke the faraway and the fantastical. As a wanderer, naturalist, and collector of objects and stories, she is guided in her work by the spirit of exploration, kinship, and curiousity. Jan has written and illustrated two books; still life (2014) and A Denali Book of Hours (2017).