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Books

Larissa H jorth 's Li nocuts and Etchings

Expressions of .... This book was made in an edition of l 0. All the linocuts were proofed and printed on BFK Rives and Yelin Arches (French rag, acid free paper}. The type for the text was printed by Webb & Sons Pty. Ltd., Adelaide.

The images are drawn onto the lino block in reverse with a brush or pen and indian ink and the areas not marked are cut away with various shaped lino-cutting tools.

The block is then rolled up with black ink and placed in a platen press face up, paper on top, and pressure is applied by a lever so that the ink is transferred onto the paper.

The Dead Child There are 7 books in the editon of The Dead Child and these are composed of etchings. This involves drawing onto a 'ground' (bitumenised surface) on a zinc plate. The lines of the 'ground' are removed so that these unprotected areas are bitten when placed in the acid.

The 'ground' is cleaned off and a resin powder is dusted onto the plate and the areas to remain without tone are blocked out with a varnish. (The resin provides a fine tooth for the acid to bite the surface, obtaining tonal qualities.)

After the resin and varnish are cleaned off, the plate is ready for printing. A dark blue etching ink is dabbed into the lines and areas below the surface of the plate and when covered with ink it is wiped off with tarlatan (an open-weave cotton fabric), and finally tissue, using the flat of the hand so that the ink is left in the grooves below the surface.

The paper is dampened and placed over the image of the inked zinc plate on the bed of the etching press with a blanket on top. They are all passed under heavy pressure through two rollers by a large wheel which is turned slowly and evenly. (This press is akin to an old mangle with a metal bed between the rollers.)

In Expressions of, the subject matter is mainly faces, sometimes cupped by hands. It is usually the face we are drawn to and concentrate on when relating to other people and the hands which are used to gesticulate and convey ideas and feelings.

In The Dead Child, I have incorporated a number of ways of indicating the figure (sometimes using the face, but also the whole body to express and symbolise the concept). In both books the images and accompanying text reveal the shadow of a dark side of our existence, or journey.

The Dead Child is quarter bound in maroon calf and embossed cloth, while Expressions of is half bound in black calf with maroon buckram sides. Both titles were bound by Charles Zammitt in Adelaide and are available from the Michael Treloar Bookshop at l O Pitt Street, Adelaide (telephone (08) 4100866).

The Dead Child (Etching)

The Dead Child (Etching)

Inga Hunter's Museum Exhibits

The books illustrated over page are only a small part of an on-going series of works about a fictional world called the lmperium. My exhibitions take the form of 'museum exhibits' from the lmperium (documents, artifacts, costumes, jewellery etc.). I now have ten books, codices or parts of books for my fictional world. Some are complete; of others only a few pages have survived; some are boxed. They vary as the people who made them vary.

The lrusaqi fragment Book of Robes is a complete concertina book about 25 ems high and a metre long when extended. It has incised wooden covers and the pages are made from collaged handmade papers and silk, both etched and relief printed, then hand painted and stitched with gold thread. The book comes in a printed, painted and glazed pouch of canvas and was originally made for the travelling exhibition The Book and Print Show and later shown in The lmperium Collection at the Blaxland Gallery in 1992.

The series of manuscripts called the Codex lboriisi comes from the same two exhibition and was inspired by pages of the Mendoza Codex from South America. The Codex is 30 ems high and a metre long, made from painted canvas collaged on both surfaces with a total of 160 small prints on handmade papers, fabric and vellum-etchings, lino and woodblock prints, together with small bones, spines and artifacts. It also has its carrying pouch of printed, painted and glazed canvas. I have done a series of similar pieces, ranging from a large framed one, now with Artbank, to a tiny boxed scroll only a few centimetres in size (illustrated here).

The pages from the Bone Book were also part of The lmperium Collection in 1992 and were shown in Chicago at CINAFE in 1993. The pages are made from handmade abaca paper embedded with bones and laced together with silk tape. Other elements include drawings, collaged prints on handmade papers and vellum, as well as small objects.

The Boxed Herbal is made from a continuous double-sided concertina of Nepalese handmade paper, delicately stained with acrylic paint. Each section shows a drawing-bits of Deodar cones, sticks, leaves, lichen etc., in pencil.

The book I am working on at present is made of handmade plant paper. It is about 20 ems square and the pages were joined together during the actual papermaking process. The pages are coloured from pinkish-brown at the beginning to blue at the end, and are printed so far with a large series of small lino prints. I still have to work on the pages further, but I am leaving it for a time to get some distance on the work before I take it to the next stage. The cover is my own papyrus-very rough and worked into with sticks and paint.

Expressions of ... (linocut)

Expressions of. .. (linocut)

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Codex lboriisi: Date unknown One of o series of manuscripts, called for convenience codices although the form af the writings vories, ranging from scrolls to simple sheets of fabric or onimal skin. The content, as far as has been determined, is in the form of lists of items, rituals, etc. or sometimes instructions for procedure-i.e. lows, religious practices ond so on. Writing tokes the form of a combination of common signs, together wi th pictogroms ond has proved very difficult to decipher becouse the meanings change frequently without any opporent logic. In addition to this, there is a series of actual objects which seems to perform the same function as glyphs. This Codex is one of the few with o known function. It depicts a series of signs ond pictorial formulae for protection. In lboriis, protection also means attack, so some of the signs ore aggressive os well os protective in our sense of the word.

lrusaqi fragm ent Book of Robes : 8th Century Post lmper ium (discovery date} This hos been one of the rarest finds in the history of lrusoqi archaeology . Excavation of the labyrinth tombs outside the major city areas hos revealed numerous documents, but never before o complete book. Experts hazard that the book is one of o series used by ancie nt Robemosters, but to what purpose is not yet known. The doting of the book is equa lly diffi~ult, but it is known to hove come from either early lmper ium, or immediately pre-lmperium times, because the robes pictured do not hove extended sleeves-a sign of Golden Age post-lmperium ceremonial dress.

Pages from a Bone Book : lboriis, 12th Century Post -lmperium This exhib it comes from the Dwellers of the Hills, o hard, tough, fierce race who fight for survival in arid near-desert terrain . Margaret Girvan, the pionee r anthropologist, lived with them for a number of years and documented every artefact they use. The total is very small. Everything is portable and true to all lbori isi, everything con be used os o weapon, right down to the jewellery of the women. In the case of the Hills Dwellers, everything is put to use os weapons, not only in the pursuit of

food, but in the defence of the family group. The leader of the Hills People always carries the legendary Bone Book of lasord, a precious relic of the Dwellers' post, in defence of which he w ill fight to the death . The Book of losord is thought to contain the origins of the infamous Bird God religion, though the Bird God figure shown on these pages is the consort figure of the Goddess, rather than the terrible beaked mask of sacrifice. The Book is believed to hove properties of magic-a weapon, again- but it would not do to ask how it came to be an exhibit here. Scientists do not always use ethical means of collection. However , tentative moves ore being mode to return these pages to their proper owners.

Boxed Herbal : lrusaq 9th Century Post -lmperium This is port of the Margaret Girvan Collection and hos been remounted for reasons of clarity and preservation . Like the Forest People, Dwellers of the Heart rely grea tly on a vast knowledge of the plant kingdom. The summer grasslands abound in ·herbs and medicina l roots, so that there is a need for good reference moteriol to supplement tribal memory. Most herbals take the form of charts wr itten and drown on animal skins, but others come in tiny boxes, and ore thought to be field versions of the large r charts, to be carr ied in pouches while travelling .

Work in prog ress.

Wo rk in progress.

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Letters to Certain Women , 15 wid e x 6 de ep x 30 ems high

Letters to Certain Women , 15 w ide x 6 deep x 30 ems high

Imag es for Dani el, 15 x 10 x 2 ems

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Just a Picture Book for a Passee Actress, 15 pages, 15 x 10 x 2 ems, $150

Twenty-one imag es for Jana , cloth bound box , 5 ems, cube

In Search of the Dark Silhouette, 12 page s, 1992 , 1 5 x 11 x 1 ems , $1 50

Enid Rat tnam-KE;;ese

Enid Ratnam-Keese captures special moments on paper-like preserved memories. The books Twenty-one images for Jana and Images for Daniel were mode on the occasion of the births of Jana and Doniel. Jana 's stitched concertina book in a cloth-bound box has 21 drypo int images printed on Hannemuh le 370 gsm; shaped plates, embossing and monoprin t. Daniel's book is paper drypoint, shaped plates printed on 300 gsm Arches with drawings in wate rcolour and handwritten text.

Leffers to Cerlain Women is a collection of undelivered letters to certain women living in the Blue Mountains and consists of hand­coloured paper drypoints on handmade paper, rolled and sealed and contained in a cedar box with one open side.

In Search of the Dork Silhouette is paper drypoin t, embossing and monopri nt wi th a hand-written text: 'The Dork Silhouette, the shadow. Act ing accordi ng to the dimensions of time; making it diff icult for others to catch me in the one same spot where they ore lying in wait ... as Miche lange lo Pistoletto said in 1966. The self portrait as a shadow does not escape identity nor is it a conclusion ... Dork. Escape. Reappear. Earth-bound. Winged , fearless, searching. Bright .. '

Just a Picture Book for a Possee Actress is a concertina book of paper drypo ints with embossing and draw ing . The handwritten text reads: 'Just a picture book for a possee actress ... Met her on the train going from Glenbrook to Blockheoth. Betty. Art ists' model .. . Used to be an actress, she said ... Torn block tights exposing round whi te patc hes ... peepholes on a snowy landscape of blue-veined trees ... flecked with gold ... now living in Katoombo ... Knew Reg ... very famous ... What? Livermore? .. No kidding. Personal friend .... she said . N othing like a little name-dropp ing once you get past Haze l brook , ... eases the boredom a bit.'

Enid Ratnam•Keese : Just a Picture Book for a Passe e Actress , 1 5 pages, 15 x 10 x 2 ems, $150

The Wood cuts o f Ruth Burgess Ruth Burgess, whose fine woodcuts were featured in a recent issue of Oz Arts, has also handwritten and hand-printed the books illustrated here. The folding paper and silk books have silk covers and were bought in Beijing in 1988 . As part of an exhibi t ion of her woodcuts held at the Blaxla nd Galle ry in 1993, Ruth printed 12 woodcuts and hand-wrote 1 2 of her own poems on these Chinese papers backed with silk.

The poems had been written over ten years as a 'Diary of the Forest' and encompassed the experience of 'Five Journeys to Chin a '. The wood cuts are echoes of these poems. The edition is six, but only three identical books were made, one of which has been acqui red by the State Library of New South Wales.

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