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Roy Willingham ~ Artist Printmaker and constructor of things
Roy Willingham ~ Artist Printmaker and constructor of things
A collaboration with the poet Mike Sims, this book was originally made for a projected (but sadly never held) exhibition of book arts to celebrate the first circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan’s crew.
The main text of the book is a narrative poem by Mike Sims primarily concerning the musings of Magellan but which do not necessarily follow the chronology of the voyage. This appears in the wake that flows through the book from start to finish.
The book is in a concertina format - when stood in the round the pages form 32 points of the compass and make a crude representation of the journey around the globe.
Special thanks go to Charles Hurst who donated the nautical charts used for the pages (and which have spent some time at sea with him!).
The ‘islands’ of collaged paper on many of the pages covered by the watercolour wash contain the names of the world’s most endangered languages and each double page contains a different pattern, representing water in its many states - seasoned sailors are said to be able to read the surface of the sea.
The book has been acquired by the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford and is now in their Rare Books Collection.
Clicking on the image below will take you to a pdf of all the pages of the book.
Closed book: 21.5 x 16.5 x 7 cm
watercolour, ink, collage, gold leaf, rubber stamps, laser print and inkjet print
This Westward - front cover