ESPECIALLY FOR YOU

Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Life is Good
Ten-day Instagram challenge
A series of cyanotype-fused collages
29 October – 7 November 2020

For the Life is Good, ten-day Instagram challenge, to post what brings us joy, we created a series of cyanotype-fused collages. We tried to adhere to the ‘no explanation’ rule, as best we could. What brings us joy is what we need to act to conserve and protect.

Thank-you for the nomination, @pasadenamansions.

On a day when the world feels less broken, and more blue, who else is going to play along?

The endangered Gouldian finch
Erythrura gouldiae
Tasked to find joy is a very good task on the heels of a second swim at the Fitzroy Swimming Pool since restrictions eased in Melbourne.

The vulnerable Leatherback turtle
Dermochelys coriacea
Today’s joy is receiving the results from pathology that your immune status to work with bats is Positive (Rabies 1.95). “A level of 0.5 IU/mL or greater is considered to be a protective level following exposure to Rabies virus. In vitro Rabies antibodies have been found to be protective against Australian bat Lyssavirrus.”

The endangered Northern quoll
Dasyurus hallucatus
Today’s joy is the reward of Halloween vegan cupcakes (from @mister_nice_guys_bakeshop) after signing our print edition for the RMIT print folio exchange.

The critically endangered Eastern curlew
Numenius madagascariensis
Today’s joy is the reward of a fresh cut thanks to Jess Wang at Miss Gertrude Salon (photo (and eternal gratitude): @missgertrudesalon); “Perfect short bob by Jess!”).

The critically endangered Beautiful nursery frog
Cophixalus concinnus
Today’s joy is the wide-eyed stare of RSPCA foster cat, Finn, as he sights a tree dove on the neighbouring rooftop. Cooing and wooing at Monday.

The critically endangered Sumatran tiger
Panthera tigris sumatrae
Today’s joy: the daily routine of walking along the river, down the street, across the oval, through the cemetery to clear the head, without fail.

The endangered Black-footed tree-rat
Mesembriomys gouldii
Today’s joy: making a booking to see Agnieszka Holland’s new film, Charlatan (Šarlatán), presented by the @casffa, at the Coburg Drive-In. Slowly emerging from stage IV for a film, with others, almost.
(Image credit: Film director, Holland, on set, courtesy Marlene Film Production)

The critically endangered Southern bent-wing bat
Miniopterus orianae bassanii
Today’s joy: anticipating listening to William Hennessy (Violin), Chris Moore (Viola), and Josephine Vains (Cello) performing Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat major for string trio K563 in our lounge room, thanks to Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. Speakers plugged. Listening. Echolocation for musical notes.
(Image credit: @melbchamberorch)

The endangered Giant otter
Pteronura brasiliensis
Today’s joy: a booking to splash and float and lap. Propelling through the water without the marvel of a tail and webbed feet.

The Black-flanked rock-wallaby
Petrogale lateralis
Today’s joy is sighting the “shy.... spectacle to behold” (@wwf) Porter’s Paints (@porterspaints) cat in the window.

Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Artists’ Books Exhibitions in the Bower Ashton Library cases
UWE, Bristol, UK
Remote residency
1 November 2019 – 30 November 2020

University of West England (UWE) Bristol
City Campus at Bower Ashton
Kennel Lodge Road, Bristol BS3 2JT

Our work from the Special Collections and the CFPR Archives will be on display in the library cabinets for students to see, and pages virtually turned on the UWE Bristol Library’s Twitter feed.

Between us, the Archive at the Centre for Fine Print Research and Bower Ashton Library at UWE, Bristol have been collecting artists’ books and zines by Melbourne based artists Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison since 2008. Between them, Gracia & Louise have created 200+ beautiful artists’ books and zines since 2000 as part of their collaborative practice….

Sadly, we are still unable to welcome the public back into the library at the moment, so we thought — why not invite some artists who are physically far away to have an exhibition that we can all see online. As Gracia & Louise have such a well thought out and informative website with images and texts on each of their books we invited them to have a remote residency / exhibition showcasing some of their books held here in Special Collections and the CFPR Archives that you can visit on their website….

As always, Gracia & Louise have devised an extra and very thoughtful element for the Arlis/ANZ talk and their Bristol exhibition. They have produced two new zines for virtual conference attendees and exhibition visitors to download.

Image credit: Chordaria flagelliformis, from British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, by Anna Atkins (16 March, 1799 – 9 June, 1871). Digitized from Sir John Herschel’s copy of the book. Image courtesy of the Spencer Collection/The New York Public Library. “These diaphanous forms are the ghosts of algae. A Victorian woman named Anna Atkins conjured them using an early photographic technique called cyanotype. Her effort represents “the first realistic attempt to apply photography to the complex task of making repeatable images for scientific study and learning,” writes art historian Larry J. Schaaf in his book Sun Gardens: Victorian Photograms by Anna Atkins” (Botanicals in Blue: A Victorian Woman’s take on Algae, Julie Leibach, Science Friday, 16th March, 2016).