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Make graceful and lasting change

Parisian Blinds


Cindy Tonkin - November 1, 2023

Made this one in 2013, back when we spent Fridays upstairs at the Workshop Arts Centre in Willoughby (now i’m working full-time so no Friday art days for now. We’ve also shifted to work at Cathie’s place in Annandale because it seemed crazy for the 2 of us to go over the bridge and fight traffic when the others were rarely there!).

The images came from Paris visits in 2003, 2006. I printed out a heap of them because i wanted a photobook i saw in a store, and then realised i had them, and for less than the cover price of the book i could make my own, rich with my own memories. Of course the making of it was fun, but after that I never really looked at it. At some point I took out the images and made them into things. This one of those things. You will probably find some of them in my Paris Theme.

The box was from some piece of tech (an ipod maybe? not sure their boxes were square). I secured the concertina at both ends because I think at the time I was experimenting with different enclosures and covers, always tricky with long concertina. Also solves the eventual user problem of how best to store it. The carpet-like fabric is from some lounge-sample fabrics (i think nicola gave me these), and it’s never done without a little bit of dress pattern paper and a button, right?

The back of the photographs is the old Paris map I used to navigate around Paris when i lived there in 1988 – 90. I never went anywhere without my little book. I was amused to find in 2012 when I was back there browsing Paris in bookstores that they were still around (surely google maps and plentiful wi-fi has made them quaint objects?).

I’m gifting this to my friend Bean from Shanties. It’s her birthday today.

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