From the Dirt Lane: poetry book

‘From the Dirt Lane Back to the Open Roads’ is a handmade poetry book which I made in collaboration with poet Helen Hutchinson. A long-standing community activist and poet, Helen wrote a collection of poems offering insight into the history and culture of Travellers, as well as the pain experienced through assimilation.

As book artist for this project, I worked in close collaboration with Helen and her editor Fíona Bolger to develop the concept for this book. Helen was very drawn to textured papers and patterns. She encouraged me to create something that people would want to interact with and make their own.

After some experimentation, I came up with the concept a soft back book with a wrapper cover with pockets. The pockets inside contain photos from Helen‘s past, each with a hand written note on the back explaining who is in it and where it was taken. These photos create a lovely intimacy, drawing you in and connecting you to the people Helen writes about.

There are 3 sections in this poetry book, each is encased in a different textured wallpaper, creating a really tactile piece. The stitching along the spine matches the gold metallic front font which I hot foil stamped onto the cover. The book colours hint at the Irish flag of green, white and gold.

One of my favourite things about this book is that each have different combinations of textured papers and photos. I used a variety of about 30 textured papers with each book having 3 different papers. I love the idea that each copy varies slightly from the next - adding to its sense of uniqueness.

I designed, laid out and handbound a limited edition of 200 books, each of which is signed by Helen. The resulting poetry book is a really tactile object which invites you to hold it close.

A limited number of these books are available to the general public. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact Mary-Jo Deegan at Tipperary Education Board.

Kindly sponsored by the Tipperary Education and Training Board.