A few weeks ago I had a table at the Ffotogallery Book Arts Fayre at Turner House in Penarth, Cardiff. The fayre happens once a quarter and it's so exciting for me to finally have a regular zine event so close to home. Despite being slightly worse for wear on arrival after a few too many mojitos at my exhibition opening the night before, I soon perked up. Once again I was sharing a table with Wes White of Attack!!! zine and we had a steady flow of visitors throughout the afternoon, both browsing and buying.
Ffotogallery on a sunny day is the perfect location for a zine event. There was a marquee over the benches on the front lawn, free tea & coffee, amazing triple chocolate cherry cupcakes and all the usual yummy vegan goodies for 50p, The room was bright and warm and the wall art from the current exhibition was so beautiful. Tim Brennan's, 'English Anxieties,' is collated from the various ephemera of a mass observation project of an English town in the late 1930s. The project's original objective was to create a sort of 'anthropology' of the self by recording people's everyday thoughts, conversations and behaviour. Brennan had presented the research as a thematically sectioned artists book, dismantled and displayed in glass cases. Reflecting upon the archives in this way, the paranoia and anxieties of the English people in such uncertain times was apparent and at times, almost amusing. In the afternoon we joined the artist in the upper mezzanine level where he initiated a group discussion on the nature of book works in art and everyone talked a little about why they do what they do. After a cheeky laze around on the grass outside while Wes minded the stall, the last half hour was spent polishing off the cakes and spending money on other people's zines. Finally, we took a quick wander along the pebble beach to the pier which is rusty & run down in the best possible way!
The next Book Arts Fayre is scheduled for Saturday 15th August and it would be ace to see even more people there next time around. If you're interested in having a stall or just helping out you can contact the gallery at turnerhouse@ffotogallery.org and I'm sure someone will give you all the information you need to get involved.
Love the pic of my table Elle!
I agree that it's a great event but needs more attendees.... come on everyone...
Posted by: Wes White | May 16, 2009 at 12:16 PM