The smelling of a brown paper package - old spaces – discarded.
Received my book from Susan Kruse Curator and Chief Librarian from The Library of Lost Books? who has organised the library of lost books
project – this is a salvaged collection of discarded books that are sent to
artists to work with. My book is an intriguing one - both in its content and
structure in that it is not really a book but a collection of pamphlets that
have been bound together within a hard purple cover.
The pamphlets are
from the reference library and are annual lectures and sermons published by the
Hopkins society 1969 – 75. The pamphlets are printed letterpress and bound
within a range of different coloured card covers. The sermons were printed in a
smaller format so when brought together have an intriguing spacer bound into
the hard cover.
The lectures were given at University College
and sermons in a range of churches around London.
What was
interesting was that after the initial thoughts from unwrapping - odd what? - I
turned on my laptop and started to research the poet – had I betrayed the book
and the project by this very act? I started to read and think about this poet –
Gerald Manley Hopkins, catholic, jesuit, homosexual? A man seemingly torn -
living and creating work within a framework of duality.
So now I know about
the man by reading through the portal of Google – and my notes include – an act
recorded – biscoiations – thingness of things – in the moment – physicality of
now – poems read with the ears – creating new words – new rhythms - tension – language – embedding – words on
words – inscape and instress.
But what to do? where
is the work? Should the work be about the physical object on my table or these
ripples in the water created by the book that has dropped into it?
Initial starting
points - physical - rethinking the structure of the piece - responding to the
ideas behind the poets work making an experience using the book and documenting
it (explosion),
Words - latin motto
- esse quam videri translation - to
be rather than to seem - creating new words – putting words and phrases into
the book – the titles of the lectures - the marks or in the book, stamps, hand written numbers etc
–
General ideas - being in the moment - going to stand where lectures were given - contacting
the society which is now based in Ireland – following obscure references such
as – what, if any is the connection between the injustices Trevor Huddleston
saw in South Africa and his love of Gerald Manley Hopkins poetry? (Trevor
Huddleston gave the first sermon).
I am interested to
know if the book sent to me to work on was chosen specifically for me – it
seems as if it was as it has much within it that intrigues and delights me from
the challenging structure to the ideas that inform the content.
