bookworks

artist's books &
book objects

matilda

When I was asked to contribute to Books of the Unexpected, Roald Dahl’s Matilda immediately sprang to mind. It is the story of a precocious little girl with special powers, who is neglected, overlooked and underestimated by her parents. When they fail to send her to school she teaches herself to read and her world is opened up. You could almost say the books or at least the authors become surrogate parents.

The work is not so much about the story but more about the character and her resilience, self-reliance and determination to learn despite her disadvantageous start.

My original idea was to create an imaginary archive or collection of fabricated objects that could have belonged to Matilda. Each piece was inspired by a particular quote from the book and by objects from the V&A collection.

an object of your own making

An object of your own making. (2013)

Le Petit Batard

Le Petit Bâtard was runner up in the Summer reads Book Art Competition held by Writers Centre Norwich and Turn the Page Artists Book Fair. Artists were asked to make a book in response to one of six 'Summer Reads' books.
I chose a (very) short story also taken from Jon McGregor's This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone like You..In just one sentence McGregor gives us a glimpse of a tale about a spreading fire that is both potentially horrifying and slightly comical, conjuring up images of the consequences of playing with matches.