Week Sixteen | Writing a Ruined Book

Following on from my experiments around ruination specifically the paper landscapes that I ruined with a jet washer I am considering what to do with the fragments. I have begun some basic layering and I am wondering about making them into books of sorts. I am mindful of Jonathan’s advice in my first tutorial to avoid labeling the outcomes and the negative impact this had on calling my previous attempts ‘hangings’. I have undertaken a book binding course using long stitch with Gillian Stewart, which I found on Instagram here and feel the sewing could be a useful way to rebirth these landscapes into some form of book. The original concept of trace narratives involves telling stories and there is no more traditional way to present a story than in a book. I imagine these as sort of hanging sketchbooks.

My link to the bookbinding course is here for my own reference.

My bookbinding kit has arrived!

Precedents

I found several artists on instagram that I feel were highly relevant.

  1. Purdey Fitzherbert who is making layered paper works from found elements and paper in much the same way. I have explored this idea before but Purdey’s work takes it to a much more sophisticated place. Her work focusses on the materiality of the found paper whereas mine are specifically about the marks on the paper and those marks are my own, not found. My work is more about memory and the layers of landscapes as symbols of belonging and loss.

  2. Zoe Ashbrook whose MA show last year featured a site specific drawing installation that featured frottage created in ancient woodlands - image here. Zoe’s work focusses on memory and autographic marks so has much in common with my own project.

  3. Laura Fox whose drawings in ancient woodlands is very close to my project definitions, although her large drawing is a group project.

  4. Lola Lawton who makes long drawings in a continuous format.

  5. Jackie Mulder who makes drawings and textile layered works with stitched, overlaid materirals

Reflections

I am interested in the scale and layering of Purdey’s work rather than in sculptural form. I like the idea of a site specific investigation, although I am not sure I can imagine a work that would remain in the forest, as much as a public space is appealing to the general concept of collect grief expression.

I notice that I am more interested in creating a ‘finished thing’ with these drawings and I don’t want them to remain separate entities. I am wondering about layering and sewing them and then dipping the whole thing into bleach or indigo, or maybe both. Currently they seem tatty and a bit cheap, easy to make. But that’s OK they’re just explorations.

I wonder about the erasure element and I would like to explore that further. Some of these drawings include paint which is harder to remove and I like the ghostly marks left behind after jet washing dry media drawings better. Perhaps I could focus on gathering up some pencil and charcoal drawings and focus on the erasure.

I would like some polish and poignancy to these and for them to feel less discarded and incidental. I would like the finished drawings to have weight, skill and communicate the burden of grief within them.

Next steps

  1. Larger scale drawings that are not necessarily layered but focus on the dry media and erasure. These may remain as they are or be broken down into layered book hangings

  2. Add some degree of weight to the layered drawings - some might be bleached, dipped in indigo or gilded using liquid gold or silver leaf.

  3. Attempt a more fragile hanging book from the rice paper frottage drawings I made of the Sarsen stones. I will have to make new ones as I have collaged them all onto other small canvas works.

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Week Seventeen | Heads and Holes

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Week Fifteen | In Gold we Trust