By Michèle Saint-Michel
New York, NY — December 2025
Grief Is an Origami Swan, the artist book by filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist Michèle Saint-Michel, marks its five-year anniversary this winter with the release of a new hardback edition. First published in 2020, the book has become a quiet companion for readers navigating grief, transition, and emotional recovery through ritual, reflection, and embodied practice.
The hardback edition will be released on the Winter Solstice, December 21, 2025, offering an archival form for a work that has continued to circulate through personal libraries, gift exchanges, and therapeutic contexts over the past five years.
Origami as ritual and offering.
About Grief Is an Origami Swan
Grief Is an Origami Swan is an illustrated artist book that explores grief as a process of attention, patience, and transformation. Blending text, visual art, and guided practices, the book teaches readers how to fold an origami swan as a tactile ritual for holding loss, memory, and care.
Rather than offering prescriptive advice, the book creates space for readers to move at their own pace, returning to its pages during moments of emotional upheaval or quiet recalibration. Since its initial release, the book has been shared widely as a gift, particularly during periods of mourning, illness, and personal transition.
A shared ritual, passed hand to hand.
New Hardback Edition
The 2025 hardback edition of Grief Is an Origami Swan represents a shift into a more durable, archival format. Designed to be held and revisited over time, the hardback edition reflects the book’s continued relevance and its role as a foundational work within Saint-Michel’s broader artistic practice.
A limited number of signed hardback copies will also be made available directly through the artist, marking the five-year anniversary with a small, intentional run.
Care unfolds collectively.
Community Reception and Review Milestone
As part of the anniversary, Saint-Michel is inviting readers to contribute public reviews of Grief Is an Origami Swan in order to help the book reach new audiences. Reviews play a critical role in the visibility of independent publications, particularly artist books and small-press works that circulate outside traditional commercial channels.
The current goal is to reach 200 five-star reviews, reflecting the collective impact the book has had over its first five years in circulation.
About the Author
Michèle Saint-Michel is a New York–based filmmaker and intermedia artist whose work explores grief, embodiment, somatic memory, and care. Her practice spans moving image, artist books, and poetry, often engaging ritual, attention, and emotional transformation.
Her films and writings have been exhibited, screened, and circulated internationally, and her publications are held in personal libraries and private collections worldwide.
Availability
The hardback edition of Grief Is an Origami Swan will be available beginning December 21, 2025. Signed copies and additional details can be found here.