Book 18  Beyond Face-book II 2 Penn, C. (2009) (Fig. 16). Beyond Face-book II 2 Unique artist’s book.  34 pages, Photographs from collaborative book with Marianne Meijer, Lazar Digital Prints, thread, text.  10cm x 15cm.  Book 18. Collection: Cheryl Penn.

After some of the collaborative books found their way back to me, I wondered if they could be extended further; that is, could  the original concept of the book could be re-enforced.   Marianne Meijer and I had finished our collaborative book by August 2008. As I had already decided that I wanted to take the collaborative books further, the question was how? I took photographs of the collaborative work done between myself and  Meijer in the knowledge that dealing with ‘the face’ could be extended beyond our first attempt.

In an effort to personalize the work, I made up my own face as though it was a generic face using general painting rules.  For example, dark pushes thing back and light pulls things forward.  I then took photographs of my face, which I digitally altered, or overlaid with other drawings .  These were printed to fit the size of the printed photographs.

The idea  was to accentuate the word face (the subject of the original book)  and to emphasize the use of the word ‘face’ in everyday language.  For example;  about face, set ones face, in the face of, face-value.  Such turns of phrase are recorded on the back, and at the ends of threads.  Placing words at the ends of the threads removes them from the normal text block.  Thus  the use of the word ‘face’ in many of these phrases falls outside the physical notion of  ‘face’ as belonging to an individual.