Signed, documented, stacked

Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
A Hemline of Sky Through Smoke
A Hemline of Forest Through Smoke
and
A Hemline of Water Through Smoke
2020
Unopened artists’ books, 12 double-sided Indigo Digital CMYK pages with perforated fore-edge and 8 double-sided Indigo Digital CMYK and black pages on 118gsm Mohawk Superfine Smooth Ultra White, with Indigo Digital CMYK covers on 148gsm Mohawk Superfine Smooth Ultra White.
Including a waistband on 118gsm Mohawk Superfine Smooth Ultra White, and paper knife on 1400gsm boxboard.
Printed by Bambra
Bound by the artists
(Each an) edition of 100, with 10 artists’ proofs

The NGV Melbourne Art Book Fair is a little over a week away, and Louise and I are looking forward to showing you our latest artists’ books, A Hemline of Sky, Forest, and Water Through Smoke.

NGV Melbourne Art Book Fair
Great Hall, NGV International
180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Thursday 12th March
6–9pm opening event

Friday 13th March
10am–5pm
6–10pm (as part of NGV Friday Nights)

Saturday 14th March
10am–5pm

Sunday 15th March
10am–5pm

While the books will be officially launched from our stall in the Great Hall at the 2020 NGV Melbourne Art Book Fair, they are now available for pre-order through our online store, with the option of selecting ‘collect in person at the fair’ (free postage, upon checkout). 5% of all sales of these artists’ books will be donated to Bush Heritage Australia to help protect that which inspired the work.

Available as a set, with waistband and paper knife (replete with a peeping quoll)
A Hemline of Sky, Forest, and Water Through Smoke

Available individually
A Hemline of Sky Through Smoke
A Hemline of Forest Through Smoke
A Hemline of Water Through Smoke

(Editions 1–75 sold as sets; editions 76–100 sold individually)

We worked on this set in the summer of 2019–2020, and now that it is autumn, and our books are signed, documented (with thanks to Tim Gresham, whose photos you see here), and stacked, it feels odd to move into the next phase. From in process to done, with a change of season.

Within the pages, through the smoke, you can see stage sets by Eugène Cicéri (1813–1890), from The Elisha Whittelsey Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Australian birds from the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, from the colourful sketchbook of John Cotton; and illustrations by Harriett Scott and Helena Forde for the Council of Education from The Mammals of Australia (Sydney: Government Printer, 1871).

Also featured within the 300+ digital layers, engravings by James Sowerby from Zoology and botany of New Holland and the isles adjacent (London: J. Sowerby, 1794); and John White’s Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales: With Sixty-five Plates of Non Descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, Curious Cones of Trees and Other Natural Productions (London: J. Debrett, 1790); alongside those accessed via Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Rijksstudio digital collection from the Rijksmuseum.

We look forward to hearing what you think of our new work, and to sharing it with you at the fair.