Origins of Ancient Greek Style Books
A number of years ago I decided to train as a bookbinder at evening classes. I learnt how to make Ancient Greek Style books with wooden covers, much like the first books made by the ancient Greeks immediately following the Scroll format of reading and writing religious books and history books; almanacs and manuscripts.
They also featured vellum style paper and the ancient Greek headband. Endpapers were added by me later as I made this design of the books my own, using wheat paste glue; made from plain white baking flour and water, and colour was obtained from natural ephemeral products like beetroot juice, chamomile tea, blackberries, squid ink as I wanted to use what the ancient Greeks would have used had they produced decorative endpapers for these early books, and stay true to the ‘natural’ as much as possible as when these books were made things were so much more organic. Later, I included the use of acrylic paints for longevity of the colours. As I branched off increasingly into my own designs then multi-positional books came into being.
I was a caregiver to two disabled siblings and looked after my mother as a child which had a profound impact on me. School was limited for me because of the care they required. The two combined in my head and stirred up a recipe in the design of multi-positional books; as I wanted to aid my disabled siblings to have more movement and the books were what I was denied at the time, so, a marriage was formed between movement and books resulting in these pieces that have up to 10 to 15 display positions each influenced also by the fact that I had to move my brother constantly during the day to provide physiotherapy. To remember all the display positions of the books, I have to rehearse them and it is also like choreography between us.
The hinging aspect of the book covers also represents how I felt, intricately linked to my brother in particular; he was 100% mentally and physically disabled and relied on me throughout the day and often at night, whereas, my disabled sister could walk at least. It became almost impossible to know where my brother began and ended as an individual and I started as I had to be a part of his senses and try to guess what he may need at any given time as he could not speak to communicate either.
I also have produced many books that house the process of production of my Box Sculptures.
Diptych & Triptych Books
My Multiple Positional Display Books feature 2 or 3 books hinged together, in a sort of triple dos-à-dos or back-to-back design, Often, they incorporate one book supporting the weight of the other (like I did with my brother) and are variable in their positions and manoeuvrability because I wanted to offer my disabled siblings the ability to move physically, and I express this by executing these multi manoeuvrable books.
