31.3.09

Five [yellow] Poems












Five [Yellow] Poems
170 x 120 mm
Cover made from black corn fibre. Yellow Lamali flocked paper. Typewritten text. Japanese stab binding in yellow embroidery thread. Poems include: Yellow, Avian Flu, extract from On this day, Spectacle/Surveillance, extract from Rope.
Maybe waxed linen thread would be better as the embroidery thread will weaken over time. But I expect the entire book to eventually disintegrate as the corn fibre will also weaken and fall apart. Due to the mixed combination and thus texture of the Lamali paper, it is particularly difficult to typewrite on to. Although the stamp leaves the impression of a letter, it does not always stain the page. Excitingly, this does mean that holding the page up to the light reveals hidden indents. The typewriter's marks also bleed through to the reverse side of the paper creating tiny buldges - see second to last image.

4 comments:

Ryan Ormonde said...

addMYrayschon!

The Japanese stab binding works so well with paper that can balance its strength as 'statement binding': the black corn fibre more than achieves this, with its gaps picking up the interference of the binded edge. You've managed to find yellow paper that could have been stripped from Charlotte Gillman Perkins' cell! and yet it as delicate (and insistent) as her writing in that famous story. The typewriter ink picks up the black and the inconsistency/strength tension of the corn fibre: this relationship, and its contrast with the orderly, softly screaming floral motif on the yellow paper, means your typewriting trademark comes the closest it has yet to representing a trace of the organic human body. The visual echoes that the photographs highlight eg the fringing underneath 'BIG DEAL' are really beautiful.

I would love to have a proper look to see if the text enhances and develops the experience of what is already a stunning book!


xxxxxx

md said...

This is fantastic!

md said...

This is fantastic!

karen sandhu said...

Thank you for your comments Ryan and Michelle. Thanks for taking a look.
Maybe I could make and send you one...