SHORT ASSIGNMENT 1:Nina Katchadourian’s book stacks
To complete this assignment I used books from my own collection. Each stack contains 3 books displayed using a neutral background of choice, that is, on my desk. I decided to display the stacks this way as my desk is a nice neutral colour, an area with lots of natural light, while it isn’t obvious from the photos these books are sitting on a desk I do most of my reading at my desk, and lastly, I also complete most of my assignments at my desk (ex: blog post’s for this class).
When I first took a look at my bookshelf for this assignment, I knew I wanted to use Love, Lucy and Love, Pamela for the sake of their similar titles which appear to mimic the personalized closing of a letter or handwritten note. I’ve had both books for about a year but recently noticed how similar the titles are. It makes me wonder if the title of Ball’s book inspired Anderson. Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball is a memoir of sorts pieced together from Ball’s journal(s) about her life with a focus on her TV career in the 1950s and the 1960s. Love, Pamela is Pamela Anderson’s memoir, of course, she is well-known as a 1990s actress (particularly of the show Baywatch). Entwined is one of the oldest books in my collection and so it felt fitting that it should join together the titles Love, Lucy and Love, Pamela. Both of these actresses are entwined per se, or associated with a particular era/ decade the 1950s vs the 1990s. (Interestingly, Entwined is also not only the oldest book in my collection by the most worn out which reminds me of the quote: “To be loved, it to be changed”.)
For this second stack, I selected the titles with the words fairy/fairies in them and then tied them together with Let it Snow. When the titles of this stack are read it sounds as though it could be the title of a collection of stories about fairies in a winter wonderland or fairytales. Two things are interesting about this image firstly, each book titled is stylized with capital letters, and secondly, on a personal note I’ve received/ purchased each book at a different stage of life. The third book Flower Fairies of the Winter- A Celebration was given as a present to my parents after I was born, my birth month is December, a winter month. I purchased the second book Let It Snow, when I was in 9th grade (2015/2016) and deep in my John Green reading phase. Lastly, I purchased the first book The Classic Fairy Tales as it was a required text for an English course I took in Fall 2022 (coincidently I took Experimental Studio 1 the same semester).
I wasn’t sure what I wanted my third stack to be but I knew that, What Strange Paradise could be an interesting title for this project. As I am writing this I realize that all three books in this stack were purchased for previous courses: the first two were required readings for an English course titled Children’s Literature, and the third was a reading for a creative writing course. I keep reading this stack as follows “Abel’s Island: The Land of Forgotten Girls (What Strange Paradise)“, actually this could be a good title for children’s book. Two of the books feature the main characters who are migrant/ immigrant children. The neutral background helps the colourful spine of each book stand out. Green and blue are next to each other on the colour wheel just as the books above and yellow also sits across from yellow on the colour as a complimentary colour. (note: the third book in this stack has some water damage so unfortunately it appears to be very crooked in the photo)