Called Scarlett because the book I altered was called Scarlett, Starlet. It was just a darling thing, the illustrations fabulous. I have kept fragments of two of the original pages. I picked it up from a box on the street. That’s where I get most of the children’s books I alter. The images are from Fashion The Century of the Designer which I also picked up in the street and have been using for my Dresses series. Again, the book was fabulous, and I held onto it for maybe 4 years because of that. Picking up people’s thrown away books in the street is both rewarding and heart-breaking. But I’m on a quest to reduce the clutter and making art from them is a good thing compared to just putting them in the recycling bins.
I started out by just cutting out the catwalk models. Then I loved the negative space. Then it looked too much like a scrapbook, so I added in other catwalk / model stills to create conversations and interactions between the figures.
Poetry from e.e. cummings (which I have used before)
What I learnt from this piece:
- by combining images from cut outs I can make a book unique, rather than just a scrapbook of pretty pictures
- every poem has several life times
