My love-hate relationship with this altered book finally came to an end today. While sewing threads into the pages this morning, I became emotional thinking of the symbolic meanings of my choice of materials. The book has become an allegory for a time in my childhood after my parents divorced and my father worked hard to keep us together. The use of thread represents ties that bind a family together; delicately woven together and easy to unravel, but if tied together properly will last a lifetime. The tissue paper resembles fleeting moments; similar to clouds - once gone may never be recaptured again. Words carry great power and emotion. They can be life changing. I feel like I have been transformed through this project. It was not easy to get out of my comfort zone and deal in black and white. Much personal reflection came from this project, and at times the emotion was almost overwhelming. In the end this was a healing project. A rebirth of sorts.
Color was an element of design that I only used when forced. For me, it created so many visual problems. I was so concerned with composition and thought that color was not important. It takes great effort for me think about color now. These pages are lovely.
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