Gracia and I are beyond thrilled to have one of our collaborative collages in the October issue of The World of Interiors. Commissioned during the film festival in August, we scanned all manner of maps, books, and fragments from both the State Library of Victoria's collection and our own to create this piece to illustrate the Jounal of a Literary Tour Guide.
A little taste:
I organise literary tours. Some are large scale, such as the public 'Pre-Raphaelite Pilgrimage' I ran for the National Trust between The George Inn in Southwark and William Morris's Red House in Bexleyheath, for which musicians, artists and storytellers were dotted along the route in hidden gardens; and some are smaller, like a recent trip with four friends, retracing John Clare's footsteps from his asylum in Epping Forest to his cottage in Northborough. Clare walked the route in an impressive four days, and ate grass; we allowed ourselves a little more leeway. Often the number is about 20, which is what we’ll be in October this year, when we stay in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s house in Keswick and explore the scenery that inspired the Lake Poets. Literature is best approached on foot; it’s fitting that we measure poetry in metre, feet and lines. The natural cadence of walking mirrors the rhythms of reading and writing, and brings the words to life.
As the tour guide, I get the double pleasure of devising the route and then enjoying the walk.
(Henry Eliot is a literary walker. He co-edits Curiocity, a map-magazine of unusual experiences in London, and is currently editing a documentary about mazes and labyrinths. He is writing a novel about the Medieval Earthly Paradise.)
Gracia has previously created three collages for The World of Interiors: Time on His Hands, 2012; The Genuine Article, 2009; and Greeks Bearing Gifts, 2008. They, too, oddly enough, have been commissioned during the film festival. Must be something in the air.