Walking Softly: Memory and Future 2011
Mimi Shapiro, USA
| Mimi Shapiro, Lancaster,
PA USA, June 2011 My book is an original poem story, about our world and what possibilities there are for all of us to live in a peaceful world. The wildflower fantasy drawings are painted and collaged over Arabic text which I found in the booksellers market in Istanbul, Turkey. The torn aged paper signifies to me the fragile earth surface, between the collage and pencil scribbles, using copier reproductions of Goya’s etchings for the darkness, below the earth’s surface, the dark treachery of man’s nightmare. Above are wildflowers with all the possibilities that life and beauty holds, the alternative between despair and hope. Inset in each small book are 3 collages, one of the books in the market, one of the bomb and the last, the senseless fire of destruction. Two quotes that are meaningful to me, are included with my poem: “…that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” - Martin Luther King Jr. Walking Softly, an Arabic blessing that I saw on a beautiful plate, and copied down in my journal, hoping one day to use in a book. Most aptly described as a visual poet, Mimi Shapiro mixes trinkets and treasures, words and images, into a powerfully evocative body of work. Each piece conveys a sense of time and place as seen through the mind's eye of memory, combining reality and fantasy to create an amazingly cohesive vision. Her deeply “connected” artistic expressions are accessible and immediate, while allowing interpretation to the imagination. Her works are included in many notable collections both in the United States and internationally. Production Notes. This edition has been reproduced on a Canon Color Laser copier and hand assembled into an accordion book, wrapped with fused caution tape, sewn over wire. Walking Softly. Edition of 3. Mixed media. Dimensions: 5" wide x 7"h http://mimiartz.com  http://mimiartz.com |