Shared Rooms: the making of...

SharedRooms2, originally uploaded by Ampersand Duck.

Did you read the label text above? What do you think? Just a sample of what I've been slogging away on for the last few days, for very little money, but for massive perks. You see, this book is made by none other than moi, l'il ol' Ampersand Duck, in my serious artist incarnation. And I have two other books on show as well, so it's in my best interests to make this exhibition look good.

I loved making this book. I planned it for two years, and spent a year making it. I stumbled across a drawer of papers at Rosemary's house while helping her sift through a few things and recognised the seeds of a beautiful concept. I helped her sort the papers, made notations all over the sheets of the anecdotes she told me, then we gave them to the National Library. When I actually got around to making the book, I had to get permission to view the papers in the Manuscript Room. It was very weird being told not to mark the papers, when all through my research I was reading my own hand-written notations!

When I look at these photos I yearn to have so much time to devote to one project again. Everything I've done since has been in time snatched between work duties, parenting duties and sleep necessity. Student life is such a luxury! If you're indulging in it, make the most of it, that sort of mental space doesn't come around often. I think I'm just going to have to take a sabbatical from my life for a while and start something else of substance.