Out of the Ashes: The Observer Pocket Books.

"Every burned book or house enlightens the world:every suppressed expunged word reverberates through the earth"
Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Sadly the thread of destruction by fire weaves through the history of Norwich, but so does its resilience - to salvage, rebuild and begin again. Fire was an ever present danger in a city whose buildings were predominately built of wood and thatch. The frequency of fires continued to increase as industrial business set up throughout the nineteenth century.  My starting point for this work was upon reading that many of the libraries in Norwich have, at some point, experienced devastating fires. I have responded to this history with a series of burnt and blacked books which represent loss and how fragments become the generative symbol of hope - pushing us on to restore, and re-establish libraries. Exhibited alongside both Reverberations, and The Poems of Mrs Opie: A Return to Possibilites, these works were displayed in the medieval undercroft at the Bridewell, Museum Of Norwich. 

Out of the Ashes - The Observer Pocket Books
L 147cm x W 69.5cm x 2cm
Altered Books, Sumi Ink, GoldLeaf

Out of the Ashes - The Observer Books II
L 69cm x W 33.5cm x 2cm
altered Books, Sumi Ink.

Out of the Ashes - The Observer Books 
​Installation at the Bridewell, Museum of Norwich,  July 2023