Thinking About Photography
Dedicated to expanding our ideas about photography
Diana Bloomfield
www.dhbloomfield.com
©Diana Bloomfield, Sunflowers in Blue, Origami Book, Boxed
Books as Sculpture
I love the whole idea— the tactility, the 3-dimensionality, and the intimacy of them.
I have always said that the one problem I find with still photography is that it is, in fact, so still. Short of going into film-making, I feel that these books are just one more way to exploit movement and fluidity in an otherwise static art form, inviting both curiosity and interaction.
©Diana Bloomfield, Hostas in Blue, Serpentine Piano Hinge Book
©Diana Bloomfield, Rapeseed Field, Interlocking Flag Book
I started creating these one-of-a-kind handmade artist books in 2019, towards the end of my mission to create a piece of handmade art every day for a year, and I continued long after that mission was completed. I find the creative possibilities limitless.
©Diana Bloomfield, Ginkos in Blue, Flag Book
So many of these books began from images I made in my backyard garden. Printed by hand in 19th century photographic printing techniques, those images seem to mesh well with the hand-made tactile quality of these books. Perfectly imperfect and all made by hand— from the garden to the print to the bound book— just seemed right. I also appreciate the liberation that stems from literally deconstructing my own handmade prints to build a totally different art form— one that creates new meanings and new ways of seeing.
©Diana Bloomfield, Ginkos in Blue, Flag Book
And now, when I create a handmade print, it somehow seems lacking. I look forward to folding, sewing, and binding that print into yet another fantastic, and often sculptural, art form— one where the details create the whole.