Artist Statement:
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. The words I have stuck in my head only seem to flow when written down in poetry. This is why for my artist book entitled “Deep”, I decided to make it a poetry book. Making this book brought up a lot of old memories but I think that it was beneficial. Along side the poetry are pictures of my family, but none of the pictures include myself. I wanted to keep the two completely disjointed. The photos depict happy moments in my family’s history, which seems to add a certain feel when compared to my poetry.
Cover to “Deep”
Project Description:
I wanted this artist book to really show two of my passions. I wanted it to show the love that i have for my family; and i wanted to display my poetry. My poetry rests deep inside the emotions that I have about my past and present anxieties. It is supposed to seem dark and express emotions of pain and sadness. But the photos of my family represent happy points in their life. From weddings to family dinners, I wanted there only to be happy and fun pictures of my family in the book. I feel like this gives an interesting juxtaposition between happy and sad, which are two emotions that everyone feels. The photos have a sense of familiarity since I do know who most of the people are in the pictures. But there is still this sense of unfamiliarity since I was not yet born when these photo’s were taken. The poetry and the photo’s seem very disjointed from each other, but the mix of joyful occasions and deep emotions really brings the work together.
Alexandria Krause 