Flattening the Curve

I am delighted that "Flattening the Curve", my entry for the Libris 22 Competition was shortlisted recently. It is always exciting to be amongst so many of the wonderful book artists in this exhibition but it amazes me how the judges can select us from such a small amount of information. (3 images, an artist CV and the artist statement.) 

In this post I'll try to give you some more insight of what the book is about and how it all fits together and show how the short artist statement can't adequately convey what the book is about  ----This was the statement that was sent :

"Flattening the Curve is informed by observations about how the Covid 19 pandemic developed and influenced a specific Covid language. The book unfolds as the daily "Covid" language with its special vocabulary and meanings evolved as the pandemic progressed through its different stages.  The book shows how daily progress reports and interviews in the media from our political leaders and medical experts became the focus of every day for the last two years and how language changes itself, its meanings and importance but also reflects its use for the purpose of authority and confidence."

The materials chosen affect the physical aspect of the book, how it will be presented and viewed to convey the story or central idea. Flattening the Curve is made on very thin rice and carbon papers from China [like COVID 19]to suggest compromised breathing which affects Covid 19 patients. Pairs of both papers were stressed to produce a carbon copy from the original. I have previously explored ways of working with carbon paper in "out of breath" and was able to utilize some of those results.

The carbon paper was worked on with pigment and white ink and fixed to stop the carbon making further marks. The white rice paper with the carbon imprint was also worked on with similar words and phrases being used during the pandemic at that time. The rice paper is treated with Stand Linseed oil to make it translucent. The two pages are like breathing in and out, the darker carbon paper shiny and thin with an image like damaged lungs seen through an X-Ray inside the body, and the translucent white rice paper with the copy of lung-like tissue representing the breath outside the body.

The words, language and mood of “Flattening the Curve” change as you progress through the book and the pandemic takes its course. Everyday words assume different meanings, medical terms become normalised and special Covid words and phrases appear. The language changes with the severity of the outbreak and mood of the populace as they change differently in different parts of Australia and other parts of the world.

 

"Opening Dark Windows"

“Opening Dark Windows” is an artist book that explores ways of seeing and interacting with books that don’t tell a story. It deliberately avoids the conventional, sequential narrative structures that most books have and is full of random contradictions and conceptual gaps that create opportunities and spaces for chance and doubt. 

“Opening Dark Windows” is an interactive book that invites you to lift and turn sections of each page to reveal hidden, underlying papers, images, and codes that suggest rather than prescribe imaginative engagement. It follows on from an earlier interactive book "Tactile Dialogues" but with a much lighter mood.

The thin carbon tissue pages are torn and cut to make flaps or windows for the “reader” to open. These “windows of opportunity” reveal surprise coded messages and found text/poetry that evoke a sense of discovery, new beginnings, and a playful interaction with materials.

Although every window is quite specific and defined, it can be seen and interpreted in many non-linear ways, resulting in a more poetic and metaphoric experience. It evokes a sense of a new beginning - the surprise of the unexpected- a playful, intuitive, investigative experience.

MLA

 I made this tiny book when I was playing with my Chinese carbon paper earlier this year. I had no intention of showing it but given the recent awful weeks in our parliament, I thought it might be appropriate.

 "M.L.A" (member of the Legislative Assembly )is not about anyone in particular but refers to the small number of politicians who don't know how to behave. If I was making the same book after the recent events, it would not be as gentle.

The book is 12 x 11 cms of Chinese rice paper with Chinese carbon paper interleaving.  The fictional portraits of the same politician and found text convey constantly changing different viewpoints - not very trustworthy. 

The interleaving carbon paper pages have traces of the original portrait which are more clearly seen when held up to the light.

The found text from "the Madness"  a discarded paperback, suits the shifty character often associated with some politicians.

"Out of Breath"

After so many dark or black or carbonized books last year, I had planned to make more optimistic colourful books this year for a change. But..... the whole Covid 19 pandemic and some personal events have changed my plans. 

"Out of Breath" is informed by Black Lung Disease which is still alive and well amongst coalminers in Australia today. While the world still struggles with the reality of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, there are additional compelling reasons for leaving most of our coal where it is in the ground. 

The turning of the pages of this book mimic the process of breathing in and out. The pages alternate between black and white, positive and negative versions of the same image made with carbon paper. After much searching black carbon paper was sourced ironically, in China, one of the most polluted countries in the world.

The papers are very thin and fine and suggest lung tissue or X-Rays of tissue and need to be picked up with a little pointed lifter. 

This very interactive book doesn't work well by looking at still photographs at exhibitions or blogs that discourage handling of the pages (probably a wise decision with the pages being so delicate). I hope the small video gives a better idea of the breathing process and seeing through the pages right into the "lungs".

"Post cutaneous"

Before I share my very latest and first for 2020, I must finish an old post from 2019. I eventually got back to more exploration and finishing my little artist's proof  "cutaneous". Another black book but there are so many more possibilities. I just love the delicacy of this paper! I have made a little folder for the book to keep it in a safe place.

The folder is made from an old X-Ray of mine, the medical nature of which seems to fit . Pity the shiny surface doesn't photograph very well.  

As the paper is so thin and fragile it is difficult to grab to turn over, so I included a little card "lifter" which lives on the back cover.

I'm thrilled that this little book has already found a happy home with someone who also has very interesting skin with just a few wrinkles. 

"wrinkles"

"Wrinkles" is a smallish book around A5 in size. The wrinkled pages of various types of black and white paper ask to be altered but not reduced. The viewer can alter, tear, fold or change a page without taking any paper away from the book. A few years ago, I encountered a large book by Tim Mosley of beautiful woodblock prints that uses this most interactive of processes. It seems to combine well by extending the processes into my other black works which also use apertures and hinged openings to reveal other textures and colours of paper.

Most of the papers have been waxed prior to wrinkling. Following on a few books about skin, this seems quite a logical direction to follow. Like my aging old skin, the pages are so fragile and easy to peel back. The many thicknesses and textures each with its series of "injuries" mimic the journey through life as we get older.

This book will get more and more complex as the audience reacts to the pages and make changes. These layers of change are a metaphor for life and aging. Different textures and weights of paper reflect the passing of time in the rich collage of life.
I have started the process of making changes to each page and have decided that for this book I will have some damage control and limit the audience to personal book artists I know and not let a gallery audience participate in the change process. I must be more of a control freak than I thought but maybe I can be less precious about the books once I have made a few more. 

The tactile qualities of the papers are of course impossible to convey other than by touch. Making the alterations to the pages forces the viewer to physically interact with the paper and experience the crunchy, silky, soft, and whisper thin tactility first hand. BUT yes, at this stage, it would be terrible to go too far and destroy the book in the process.

'cutaneous"

My next book "cutaneous"has just been completed. It is another black book and joins the small series of black work I have started for the year. Although it is in a very conventional codex form, it also has perforations, windows and flaps that reveal several layers at a time. The book is about skin and the Chinese carbon paper screwed up and straightened, is soft and wrinkled like my skin. 
I was researching how to make the Japanese cloth-like paper using momigami and using different papers and glues instead of the konnyaku paste and stubbled on some very interesting surfaces and textures to use in my books.

 The results were encouraging and I hope to get back to this artist's proof to make a bigger, better version once I finish my next few explorations into the black.