This is another handmade, leather bound book that I made. It's all hand-stitched and dyed with 6 brass etchings and 6 fabric collages. The book is a mere 6 inches tall, but 8 ft long when laid out flat, and nearly 5 ft long when displayed in the accordion style. The collages are machine stitched, and made from rusted fabric on which I digitally printed some handwritten letters. Each etching is made from old photographs that I got from my grandmother, BeBe, before she died. The etchings are paired up with the handwriting of one of the people featured in the photograph. There are letters, journal entries, prayers, and recipes. All the handwriting has a distinct look, and as I read and reread the words, my mind was flooded with memories of similar words spoken with a voice. My BeBe is gone, my dad is gone, my great grandmother has also passed away; but the mark they have left on my life is still there.
Text is a recurring element to my work and I'm particularly drawn to handwriting, it's like a fingerprint; each person's mark is their own and part of their identity. I enjoyed making this book and I call it "Stages of Development" because it shows the merging of two families with the marriage of my parents, and traces the beginning of my own life as well as my siblings.
This is how it looks in my house displayed on the mantel, which is what I designed it for :
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