Local book lovers have become works of art by reading excerpts from their favourite authors in a thought-provoking British Art Show 9 piece at Aberdeen Central Library.
Artist Abigail Reynolds says her work, Elliptical Reading, is a celebration of libraries and a reflection of the deep love she – and many others – hold for them.
The work involves local people reading from their favourite books in a rich mix of voices, from English to Doric, Polish to Arabic, reflecting the north-east’s diverse cultural strands.
Those books are then beautifully rebound by Abigail, with the handprints of the readers instead of the book titles, then “misplaced” around the library, forming a treasure trail for visitors to find them.
As you follow the map, a video installation features the words and hands of the readers, forming an absorbing soundscape that adds texture and depth to the experience.
Cornwall-based Abigail, who has been working with north-east people over the past months, said she wanted to make people think about how incredible libraries are.
“I just wanted to make a piece that was essentially a description of what a library already is,” she said. “I feel like a library is a really incredible resource, it’s so personal to people, there’s one at the heart of each community. They are beautiful utopian spaces.
From American Psycho to Donald Trump
“I wanted to make people think about how personal they are, by having the reader’s hand on the cover of the book instead of the title. So instead of the title being the most important thing about the book, it’s the personal attachment to a reader that is the most important thing for this particular moment.”
Abigail, who said she was also driven by the need to protect libraries across the UK from closure, said Elliptical Reading also aimed to bring diverse readers, with different tastes, together to read aloud and share their love of books and words. It was also to reflect what lies at the heart of any library… bringing people together.
However, the specially-bound books she created are then placed out of context in the library, not in the section where you would expect them to be.
Abigail said: “What you love about a book might not be the same reason somebody else loves that book. You can somehow show that by placing it in a different area of the library.
“The one I probably like best is the way that American Psycho has been put in business, which I think is fantastic. And the reader, Dallas King, who chose that was really clear. He wanted it to be next to the book about Donald Trump.
“And that just brings in a different set of thoughts about that book.”
Meet some of the north-east readers
Two of the north-east readers involved were Noon Salah Eldin, a paediatric registrar at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, and James Tocher, a farmer from near Huntly.
Noon, who is also a spoken word artist, chose to read from The Butterfly’s Burden, by Mahmoud Darwish, as it is “poetically political”.
She said: “Mahmoud is a human rights activist and I find him an inspiration to my own poetry, work and writing as well, as my poetry is both political and full of activism.
“His poems are poems of beauty, loss, love, hope, and longing for Palestine, my writing speaks about love, longing, women’s and human rights and finding oneself away from home as an immigrant.”
James, who farms between Huntly and Turriff, chose that Mearns classic, Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
“I read it as a teenager first and it was a big influence on me,” he said. “I particularly like the aspect of showing how much the land influences and meant to the people living on the land. I think that connection tends to be quite broken in Britain.
James said he was delighted to be part of Elliptical Reading, but admits he found it a challenge.
“I’m not used to reading out loud, so I found it quite hard and some of the language – the Doric spellings and pronunciation – vary. I just had to decide which ones to go for. But it has been good and really interesting.
Both Noon and James said they were delighted to be part of Elliptical Reading, which will also feature in BAS9 when it tours the UK, visiting Wolverhampton, Manchester and Plymouth, where different readers will take part.
‘Moving experience’ of Elliptical Reading
James – who placed Sunset Song away from fiction and in the natural history section of the library – said he hopes visitors will find the piece interesting.
“It would be good if it encouraged them to read books that they might not otherwise think of reading.”
Noon added: “Art is a way to express yourself and to me, art is always been like a therapy, so to take part in this and send a message to the fellow readers and people interested in art has been a pleasure and something fantastic to do.”
Helen Lynch, creative director of Aberdeen’s WayWORD cross-arts festival, helped co-ordinate the call for readers to take part in Elliptical Reading after she was contacted by Abigail.
“We wanted to find people who read and use libraries, and who represented the varied spread of voices that you would hear in Aberdeen, so including north-east Scots, Doric, and including Polish, and you know, just a whole variety of voices,” she said.
The readings, which form both a short and longer version video, involved the nine participants each having three minutes at a lectern to read aloud from their chosen work.
“They stopped wherever they were at that three minutes, even if it was in the middle of a word. And the next person waiting then read at the lectern after them,” said Helen.
“So there was this sort of continuous reading and you listen completely differently in that situation, and everybody’s voice was different. It was a really interesting experience, actually, and really quite moving.”
How to take part in British Art Show events
Helen hopes that people can experience that for themselves when Abigail visits the WayWORD festival on Tuesday September 21 to talk about her work, with the readers once again reading together.
Meanwhile, Helen is encouraging people to see the work for themselves at Aberdeen Central Library before British Art Show 9 ends on October 10.
“You won’t really know what it is unless you do come. The whole point is it’s an experiential thing. And unless you come and hear it and see it in the space, you won’t really know what it is. I really think you should come and see to find out.”
For more information on the WayWORD festival visit www.waywordfestival.com
There are also many events being organised around the British Art Show 9, which is running at Aberdeen Art Gallery.
