In June I had the pleasure of attending the Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE) at the University of the West of England, Bristol. BABE is an international biennial event that showcases book artists and their works to the public, first hosted in 2007. Since then it has grown and is now recognised as a welcoming event to meet artists, attend artist talks and take part in workshops.
Whilst manning a table at BABE I was fortunate enough to attend an ecopoetry workshop, hosted by Dr Briony Hughes. Hughes is a poet in residence at the University of Surrey whose work addresses notions of ecopoetry and ecocriticism, using the natural world as both medium and subject matter. The workshop was an adventure comprised of a sequence of 'quests' that we were to undertake, with each quest yielding varying outcomes. We were introduced to some examples of ecopoetry to dissect and learn from, studying forms that we enjoyed, words that connected with us, and made notes and scribbles before being given our first quest. This was to venture outside and collect up to five discarded items, these could be physical objects, photographs or wax rubbings.
For this quest I abandoned any logical approach and randomly gathered the first items I stumbled upon. These were a ketchup sachet, a screwed up piece of paper, a weathered receipt, a feather, and a wax rubbing of a lamp post. We were then asked to free write about our discoveries, contemplating how they might correspond to one another, be it colour or shape or otherwise. Not wanting to over think as there were more quests ahead, I wrote a piece about how the discarded artefacts had been worn through exposure to the elements.
The second task asked us to find a location on the university campus and embark upon an exploration to reach it. On this journey we were instructed to transcribe every piece of text that we encountered and bring this list back to our starting point. Subsequently, we would then craft a poem using this collected text. This quest felt familiar to me as I have previously created poems using found materials.
I noticed that a significant portion of the text on campus consisted of directional signs or warnings. The campus was abundantly adorned with signs guiding visitors towards various locations, including BABE signage, resulting in a majority of my collected material being derived from these sources. The poem I crafted was predominantly made using these directional instructions, and was reminiscent of conversations I typically have with my partner whilst driving, with me offering unwanted navigational advice from the passenger seat!
For the third and final challenge, we were tasked with identifying a discarded object on the university campus floor and exchanging it with one of our own belongings. I chose to swap a cigarette butt for my journal, and took a moment to reflect on this. It was an odd sensation, to say the least. My journal holds great value to me, containing personal memories and thoughts, so discarding it on the ground, even temporarily, felt like an act of disrespect.
In documenting this experience, my goal was to convey it from the perspective of a former smoker, emphasizing the importance of always having my journal with me in the future.
Overall, it was a thought provoking workshop. I have always enjoyed working with found materials and texts but have typically leaned towards topics that resonate with me, so I appreciated being pushed outside of my comfort zone. We were given a box to house our found items and compositions, which I left untouched on my desk for a while. After a week of letting the weekend and the workshop digest, I carefully curated all my work into an artists' book named 'Babe, this way'.
The book is printed on thermal receipt paper, drawing inspiration from the experience of finding a discarded receipt on the ground. I aimed to elevate the discarded item by using it as the material of the book. As the book is thermally printed, it will gradually fade over time, reflecting the text and visuals of the pages' content.
Comments