'In the Margins' was created by a collective of students, artists, writers, historians...etc (including myself), to publicise the collection at the Portico and challenge 'the male, stale and pale' reputation of historic libraries.
Here are a few examples of my contribution to the project.
"Helayna Lagos’ lino-cut page border depicts cotton flowers—some wilting, some in full bloom—wrapping around and suffocating each other as they grow out of open books. The positioning of the books in opposite corners symbolises readers witnessing the atrocities of enslavement from the relative comfort of their homes and libraries in Britain, and through the unreliable lens of white British writers and illustrators".
I created these idents in response to the in depth research I conducted into each of the 18 books we were displaying for the exhibition. The books chosen highlight the diversity within the collection (not negating the problems and bias' within it also), such as the translated Persian epic poem 'Shahnameh', details of the Indian Jungle, the biography of Muslim writer Lutfullah, a personal account of trans Spy Chevalier D'Eon and many more.
These idents were imbedded into QR codes of digitised versions of the books (a couple of examples below).
Re-designed version of the 1854 Four Annas stamp of India (which originally has Queen Victoria’s head inside), with a drawing of Lutfullah inside, or what I imagine he may have looked like. There is the crescent and star symbol of Islam at all four corners. The drawing of Lutfullah is based on and in the style of 1800s Indian male faces.
The drawing of the home is based on a 1600s illustrated map of Aleppo and the tree is a Pinus halepensis, also known as an Aleppo/Jerusalem pine tree, which grows in Palestine.
