Jackie Chettur organised this artists’ book fair at Penzance’s Exchange gallery when they were between art shows. It was free to attend and the cafe was open for in my case a lukewarm hot chocolate that I was too impatient to have remade.
There were about 8 tables people had paid rent for and then two long tables with a selection sold with a small commission.
All sorts, from heavy volumes of images and poetry to thin pamphlets made at home with a copier.
On the Friday evening there were various short talks. The first was virtually inaudible although I asked for them to speak louder, but things then improved.
Tina Kutter read moving details of how the situation of women in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically since the Taliban took power. She had these written on a scroll which was part of a group project, not for sale but presented in big red boxes to University librairies.
After a break Chloe confidently and amusingly performed a piece about the problems using a copying machine.
Others spoke interestingly of their own groups or individual books. If there had been a printed list this would have helped audience members know names and titles and be able to google later.
There was a pleasant atmosphere of approachability so one could chat to artists and make contacts as well as handling the books.
Maybe more publicity could help but I hear attendance was particularly good on the Saturday.
It was good to display my own three books and sell one - actually ‘Carbon footprint and the last taboo’ which I had offered as a project to do at the Exchange originally but was not selected so I was pleased to get the resulting books through the door and to sell one.
I also had two other books - ‘Drawn Here’ which Cornwall library has in stock, and ‘Women without’ about women suffering infertility, which was part of my MA work at Falmouth 2006.
Artists’ books are a specialist niche thing, well worth exploration.
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