The Language of Paper (and of books)
Heather Matthew
Australia
This bookmark is about the joy of making paper from the fibre of banana plants. The front of the bookmark is an image derived from the sounds made during the act of making paper.
Sounds were first recorded then reconfigured and played through water placed over a subwoofer speaker. These experiments were influenced by techniques used to create cymatics images, the patterns which emerge from sound vibrations in water. Within the circular shape of the acoustic speaker, a micro universe of fractal patterns emerged. When screen-printed onto the handmade banana paper they became motifs of the world; chaotic, fragmented yet beautiful and sublime.
The back of the bookmark is a piece of indigo dyed handmade banana paper, which has been embossed and screen printed with the fractal images. The fibre of the plant is revealed, the paper has its own language, the touch of it when turning the pages of a book speaks of its connection to the plant world and the cosmos. It is the language of paper and of books.