Image above: Glenda Orr & Kathy Boyle Exquisite Causes 2022 artists’ book (cover: cardboard cover in high-vis material, Japanese binding with brass screws, archival rag paper pages sewn into spine and cut into thirds; images: sourced and extracted from online media, monoprints, chine colle, cut-outs, stencils, watercolour, spray paint 36.5 x 32.5 x 2 cm.
Congratulations to Glenda Orr and Kathy Boyle, whose artists’ book Exquisite Causes has been selected for inclusion in the upcoming 2023 Artists’ Book Award Exhibition at Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
Every two years the Northern Beaches Library Service holds an Artists’ Book Award, attracting entries from around the world. From the books selected for exhibition, judges choose a number of books to be acquired and added to the 80 plus artist books the Northern Beaches Library Services holds in their collection.
“Exquisite Causes reflects the disrupted, discombobulated and uncertain state of our lives. With the threat of climate change, the constraints of pandemic, growth in identity politics movements, rise in ‘strong man’ leadership and echo chambers and mass mobilisation through social media, there appears to be a rise in polarising tribalism with mobilisation into large street protests. Both in Australia and New Zealand, the reporting of some protests suggests a mishmash of causes, a coalescing of positions that sometimes defy conscious logic and effective communication.”
“To create Exquisite Causes, we evolved the Surrealists’ collaborative artistic technique, Exquisite Corpses, which involves one artist drawing a head, folding it over, the next artist drawing the torso, then the third the legs to create fantastical creatures. One hundred years ago, the Surrealists and their predecessors, the Dadaists, rose out of a time of similar great uncertainty with World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic and they looked to the unconscious and chance to reflect on their world.”
“Our evolution of the Exquisite Corpses technique involves cutting the pages into thirds so the reader can mix and match different sections to create their own fantastical creatures. Each page is sourced from online media covering the pandemic constraints, protests of far right-wing individualists to iconic progressive leaders in Australia and New Zealand, all taking their causes to the streets. These include anti-vaccination / anti-government / conspiracy theory protests, pro-refugee actions, Me Too / March 4 Justices women’s rights events, women in sport controversies, Extinction Rebellion / climate change actions, and Black Lives Matter protests.”
2023 Artists’ Book Award Exhibition
Manly Art Gallery and Museum
West Esplanade Reserve, Manly NSW 2095
3 March – 16 April 2023