Mariana Sissia’s delicate drawings begin as layers of “frottage,” a technique developed by German surrealist artist Max Ernst in 1925 where graphite is rubbed onto paper placed on textured surfaces. She uses varying materials –- cement floors, walls and stones –- to build layers of graphite rubbings that she further refines by hand. The materials Sissia sources in her drawings transform into complex graphite renderings that are products of the artist’s own cognition. Through thought, experience, and sensation, she produces ethereal compositions without reference to geographic features that landscape often suggests. This book accompanies her show in The Mission, Chicago.