Journeys Through My Book House is an installation that Caitlin Phillips has created for Artomatic. It’s a room wallpapered with the pages of books. Hung on the walls are purses that Phillips makes from the covers of discarded books. Like a doll house or a tree house, Phillips’ book house conjures imaginary worlds. Phillips explains:
Lost in a book in my room, on vacation in the car with my nose in a book instead of looking at the scenery, hiding out in the backyard; the places I went in books seem as real to me as the places I visited in real life, and sometimes the real and imagined places bled over into each other.
Creating an imaginary world isn’t a distinctive attribute of books. Radio shows, television shows, electronic games, and other forms of entertainment can also create imaginary worlds. Philips’ book house, like her book purses and iPad book covers, celebrate the physical body of books.
Love is realized with physical bodies.
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Read more:
- sumptuous books in antiquity
- love for physical books unlikely to sustain current book industry
- a different view of binding worlds in books
Exhibit note: Journeys Through My Book House is on display at Artomatic in Crystal City, Virginia, through June 23, 2012. Artomatic is a unjuried, non-profit exhibit of more than 1000 persons’ art. Admission is free. A fine local news source has reviewed Artomatic 2012.