One year ago, I returned from studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic. For 9 months I documented the hell out of the experience of living in a central/eastern European city. Prague, the city that touches the stars! I won't expand upon to the variety of ways I pine for the timeless city, but I certainly trapped enough of the wonderful aspects, pictures and memories of Praha for me to make the longing all the more magnified and my separation more excruciating.
No regrets! 33 Tangerine Suns* is a gem. His/her charms inspired colleagues on my trip to document their experiences too (I think they still partake in the activity, even a year post-departure).
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| Front cover of 33 Tangerine. It's difficult to make a move on the cover, but I find the gut and/or instinctual feelings to be the most reliable driving force when making aesthetic moves in and outside the journal. |
It's a fact that making the first move and mark on a fresh and untarnished journal is an intimidating task. Taking time to "see the page within" is not as silly as I make it sound, but what you start with is the foundation for its proceeding pages, so it doesn't hurt to think before you write/glue/tape.
and so,
May I advise...
when the time has come to make the first marks and entries in a journal, begin (at the earliest) on the face of the second page (not the back of the first page, no, not that "second" page).
The inner-cover and the first page make a wonderful aperitif when decorated with visuals over time that reveal the theme or relative images to the contents of your journal.
For example, in the left image I combined....
Student metro passes, old friendship bracelet, a seal from a bottle of Becherovka, colorful clippings from tourist brochures, business cards of favored hang out destinations, flower petals, plane ticket stubs, passport photos, a drawing from a friend, and a chocolate wrapper.
Simple, meaningful or symbolic things I collect and collage into the work over 9 months of time.
also,
May I advise...
that you install one of these into your journal:
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| A lightweight memorabilia envelope |
Here I cut an oatmeal bag in half and glued it to a page. I can save my charming little pieces of found paper for a later time. (I will have an entry on how to make a journal envelope from paper soon...)
Being abroad meant the occasional letter from loving family and friends. This particular arrival from my lady friend in Tucson was enchanting from the envelope to the contents of the letter (it got wet from the rain in Prague, and the marker writing bled a bit, but for an animating effect).
When stored away, the letter is folded up (the back of one of its quarters is glued to the journal page); when it is in action, it folds out while remaining in its place.
More samples from this traveled journal to come.
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*The "33" (as in 33 Tangerine Suns) comes from an enlightened moment in my education at the Anglo-American University (Anglo-americká vysoká škola). In the course Art as Inquiry Research, my little class read the Situationist Manifesto; being deep in the documentation of my travels, I found myself particularly drawn to #33:
Though separated from what they produce, people nevertheless produce every detail of their world with ever-increasing power. They thus also find themselves increasingly separated from that world. The closer their own creation, the more they are excluded from that life. - Guy Debord
I found it to be fitting between 33 and I.
("Tangerine Suns" originates from the name of the journal print that Watermark Bindery makes.)
