PHOTOGRAPHY AND BOOKBINDING, A NATURAL RELATION

During these weeks I’ve manage to participate on an online course called Seeing Through Photographs (Coursera_MoMA), in which I’ve been able not only to address photographic issues with more confidence and knowledge, but also to see through the images some of the late motif of the photographers. It is true as said in the course that “Photography has become fully integrated into daily life.”

I adore photography and although I’m not an expert, I’ve always relied on images to develop my daily work as a bookbinder.

Bookbinding conceptual status (prior to the actual binding practical process) is coherent to a mental image where I take a glimpse of what I want my final work to became. Nevertheless, and apart from all the rules and method that should be taken into consideration, there is a space to an emptiness that is occupied with puzzled photographic descriptions that convey the final aesthetic approach of the binding.

I dedicate a long time staring at the object (in my case, a book or an album) until it connects with me enhancing a unique visual narrative bringing together the blocks that sustain the idea.

In here we also restore and craft old photo-albums and in these moments the relation with the object becomes more organic and visceral, for this type of work often offers a glimpse of prior years when I was not yet born. There is a magic involved when I’m working with old photo albums, there are memories and stories that took place so many years ago and that are protected in a case beautifully crafted.

The architecture of an album and its anatomy communicates with me, supporting a dialog that takes me back in time allowing me to meet those people and places.

“Photography has the power to illuminate personal narratives, and many people sequence photographs in albums or scrapbooks to recollect events and places they hold dear. These albums, as well as snapshots by amateur photographers, have become an essential and rich part of the medium’s history…”

Additional text from Seeing Through Photographs online course, Coursera