To have faith is to trust yourself to the water - Alan Watts

My collage made using illustrations and photographs from the British Library's collection of public domain images is nearing its completion.

I worked through 300 pages of the collection (barely making a dent on it's total 10,212 pages) picking out any images which intrigued me. As I began to add images to the hexagons, I would make connections with other images, or find ways to manipulate and change them. Since nearly all of the images in the collection are black and white, I also added colour and adjusted the levels to suit my own purpose. Many of the images become visual metaphors, express feelings, or suggest part of a narrative.

The collage is A1-sized and comprised of 63 hexagons, inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Library of Babel.

More collage close-ups

close-ups from a larger collage made with public domain material from the British Library 

“It only takes two facing mirrors to build a labyrinth.” - Borges

“I arrive now at the ineffable core of my story. And here begins my despair as a writer. All language is a set of symbols whose use among its speakers assumes a shared past. How, then, can I translate into words the limitless Aleph, which my floundering mind can scarcely encompass? Mystics, faced with the same problem, fall back on symbols: to signify the godhead, one Persian speaks of a bird that somehow is all birds; Alanus de Insulis, of a sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere; Ezekiel, of a four-faced angel who at one and the same time moves east and west, north and south. (Not in vain do I recall these inconceivable analogies; they bear some relation to the Aleph.) Perhaps the gods might grant me a similar metaphor, but then this account would become contaminated by literature, by fiction. Really, what I want to do is impossible, for any listing of an endless series is doomed to be infinitesimal. In that single gigantic instant I saw millions of acts both delightful and awful; not one of them occupied the same point in space, without overlapping or transparency. What my eyes beheld was simultaneous, but what I shall now write down will be successive, because language is successive. Nonetheless, I'll try to recollect what I can.” 

― Jorge Luis Borges

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There's a rather nice link here to audio of Borges 1967/8 Norton lectures on poetry.

UBUWEB: These are the six Norton Lectures that Jorge Luis Borges delivered at Harvard University in the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968. The recordings, only lately discovered in the Harvard University Archives, uniquely capture the cadences, candor, wit, and remarkable erudition of one of the most extraordinary and enduring literary voices of our age. Through a twist of fate that the author of Labyrinths himself would have relished, the lost lectures return to us now in Borges' own voice.

Born in 1899, Borges was by this time almost completely blind (only a single color-- yellow, "the color of the tiger" -- remained for him), and thus addressed his audience without the aid of written notes. Probably the best-read citizen of the globe in his day, he draws on a wealth of examples from literature in modern and medieval English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese, speaking with characteristic eloquence on Plato, the Norse kenningar, Byron, Poe, Chesterton, Joyce, and Frost, as well as on translations of Homer, the Bible, and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Though his avowed topic is poetry, Borges explores subjects ranging from prose forms (especially the novel), literary history, and translation theory, to philosophical aspects of literature in particular and communication in general. Throughout, Borges tells the very personal story of his lifelong love affair with the English language and its literature, ancient and modern. In each lecture, he gives us marvelous insights into his literary sensibility, tastes, preoccupations, and beliefs. 

Whether discussing metaphor, epic poetry, the origins of verse, poetic meaning, or his own "poetic creed," Borges gives a performance as entertaining as it is intellectually engaging. A lesson in the love of literature and language, this is a sustained personal encounter with a literary voice for whom the twentieth century will be long remembered. 

"mirrors and copulation are abominable, since they both multiply the numbers of men."

A couple of close-ups of the collage I'm working on at the moment, using open source material from the British Library: https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary

British Library: We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, allowing us to release them back into the Public Domain. The images themselves cover a startling mix of subjects: There are maps, geological diagrams, beautiful illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, colourful illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and so much more that even we are not aware of.

Were most of your stars out?

These are two new pieces which I made for Bloom at the Garden's Gallery in Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham. The exhibition features work by fellow Falmouth graduates Sophia Bloxham, Lucy Boden and Liz Clayton, as well as our talented friend Katie Thomas, and runs until Tuesday 14th May.

I decided to get away from using the computer to colour my illustrations, and it made me realise how much happiness I get from painting and collaging. There is something about making things with your hands, and discovering through making, which a computer cannot replace. I have a box of collage materials dating back to my first year at Falmouth - different types of paper, sheets painted in acrylic, bits and pieces collected in terms of colour - and it was nice to let the materials shape the direction of the work. 

I have a few of the instruments pictured - the banjo, ukulele, melodica, glockenspiel and autoharp - although I would never consider myself a musician - I have a very talented brother who plays guitar beautifully - but I like to make music in a very amateur sense, for my own amusement.

The typewriter illustration is based on a quote by J.D. Salinger from one of my favourite books, Seymour, an Introduction. 

The quote comes from a letter that Seymour writes to his younger brother Buddy:

"When was writing ever your profession? It’s never been anything but your religion. Never. I’m a little over-excited now. Since it is your religion, do you know what you will be asked when you die? But let me tell you first what you won’t be asked. You won’t be asked if you were working on a wonderful, moving piece of writing when you died. You won’t be asked if it was long or short, sad or funny, published or unpublished. You won’t be asked if you were in good or bad form while you were working on it. You won’t even be asked if it was the one piece of writing you would have been working on if you had known your time would be up when it was finished…I’m so sure you’ll get asked only two questions. Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out? If only you knew how easy it would be for you to say yes to both questions. If only you’d remember before ever you sit down to write that you’ve been a reader long before you were ever a writer. You simply fix that fact in your mind, then sit very still and ask yourself, as a reader, what piece of writing in all the world Buddy Glass would most want to read if he had his heart’s choice. The next step is terrible, but so simple I can hardly believe it as I write it. You just sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself. I won’t even underline that. It’s too important to be underlined. Oh, dare to do it, Buddy! Trust your heart."

Unfold Poster 19: Tune-yards at Paradiso 6/6/11

This is why I was building cardboard mountains.

The animal featured in this poster is an endangered species called the Mountain Bongo which is native to Mount Kenya - there are less than 100 mountain bongos in Kenya living in the wild. More than 300 are living in American zoos, but the plan is for them to return to their natural habitat in Kenya eventually.


I really recommend you listen to the tUnE-yArDs - the new album W H O K I L L is available now, and they are playing at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, on 6th June.

Book for Line

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

Well courtesans shed no tears when you leave them high and dry...

 

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

Moth in the Motor at The Foundry Gallery

 Announcement from Broken Sound Music:

Following on from Rachael Dadd's Moth In The Motor art exhibition & album launch at Cafe Oto, we're very happy to announce a second week-long exhibition and pretty special night on Thursday 18th!

Many of the amazing sleeves created for Rachael's new mini-album will be going on display at The Foundry gallery (Old Street) running from 16th-21st March. Entry is free!

We'll be celebrating the exhibition on the evening of Thursday 18th, with incidental music from a very special lineup of Rachael Dadd, Tristram, Ben from The Mariner's Children and Jo Burke. Entry for this is free too! Hurrah.

You can see and buy the special limited edition sleeves (all original art by some of our favourite artists, including the vinyl 10" and free downloads) over at www.brokensoundmusic.com/moth.htm

I really wish I could go, the Foundry sounds so interesting, and its great that Rachael's music and all the work is getting more attention! How exciting!

Papery poppets

Emma Ridgway (c) Copyright 2010

Meet my new assistant, le typewriter. As a child I used to draw pictures with a typewriter (I remember using @ signs for eyes and creating wavy hair with rows of alternating brackets) so it was very exciting to find this beauty hidden in the loft. It is mysteriously without a "1" key, an exclamation mark, or any sign of an asterisk, but that's not really an issue when its primary function now is to create patterns and textures for illustrations (and love letters to a certain boy in Amsterdam)

The split pin puppet reclining on this marvellous contraption is none other than Cap'n Quote Man, who was dreampt up by Pip Chorley and I in our first year at Falmouth and grew into a graphic novel called The Paper Shredder Person which we continue to work on.

Pip and I have recently joined forces with Line Lorna Grytvik Tessem and Beth Hague to form The Little Egg Collective - do have a peek at some of our combined efforts on the Little Egg blog: http://thelittleegg.blogspot.com/ 

Robert Walser

"With all my ideas and follies I could one day found a corporate company for the propagation of beautiful but unreliable imaginings" - Robert Walser (Institute Benjamenta)

(The Quay Brother's film Institute Benjamenta, based Walser's book, and one of the most beautiful films ever made, is due to be released on DVD next month)

Bobby D

Bob Dylan

a birthday card for my cousin Amy

We are nowhere, and it's now

(a portrait of Conor Oberst which I've just finished)

Porcupine