I have explored other ways of expressing my thoughts in my book artwork. I feel that memories are very important in our daily lives. We live each day based on the past and the memories of it. It is impossible to move forward without looking to the past or even relying on it. I think that is why books are so intriguing to me. They are a tool used to remember information and they are also heavily relied on for our memory. But, books also have an itriguing quality to them in the fact that they are like a world of their own. Each filled with their own stories, lives, connections, and memories. They are like a life and when they are merely sitting on the table not in use, they are a memory of that life.
Its because of this thought that I have been trying to incorporate photos into my book installation. I feel that books and photos have a similar use in that they are both used to help remember. I have been taking photos of my family and blurring them out so as to create a sense of haze. This is to emulate the idea of the blurriness of memories, and the gradual loss of it. Then, I have been choosing parts of the picture that are more vague and attaching them to openings in some of the books.
Here are some close ups of some of the photos in the books. I put the photos on transparency paper and then i placed and led light behind each photo to illuminate the printed photo. I was really pleased with the look.
I am working on getting the led lights to fade in and out automatically while being installed. I think that this would make the books feel more like a heartbeat or a breath of a life that has faded away. What we are left with is merely a memory of something lost. I think it is interesting that I am using books and photos in my artwork because they are both used to help remember. Yet, I am exposing them to be something that is not a permanent tool to always look back on. Instead, they are fading memories.
Thats what is interesting about memories. You fight to hold on to them, but you cant. You just cant. They will all gradually fade away.
Off to work on some new ideas I have brewing in my brain! Talk to you soon.
Rachel
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