Around the World AB round robin
September 11th, 2006I chose to have my book, on Sri Lanka, which I thought would be quite easy, given my roots, but ended up being quite difficult. I didn’t always feel satisfied with the spreads and I think they ended up being more intense than I first imagined.
The first spread was the sign-in page, which I made using 10 rupee notes and I printed a design from a batik shirt, onto cotton for the instruction page. I also partially covered the covers with the batik print.
Spread two uses a poem that I half-remember from a book I had as a child, and half-made-up. Unfortunately I can’t remember which is which or who wrote the original poem.
The dial on the right is a wheel that can be turned to show three names that Sri Lanka has been known by: Taparobana, Serendib and Ceylon. The colours on the page represent the colours on the Sri Lankan flag, yellow, red and a green and orange stripe.
The next series of pages fold out from the top and from the left-hand edge.
When opened the pages read “War baby, Cry baby, Don’t wanna die, baby.” I used images of a group of young boys who have been recruited by the ‘Tamil Tigers’.
Children as young as 12 have been recruited, boys and girls, given a machine gun and a cyanide capsule to wear around their necks in case they were captured by the military. Many of these children lose their feet and legs as a result of the impact of land-mines.
The other image is of a small child, bewildered by the war around her. These children pay the price of war.
