Patti
My daughter-in-law suggested I look at illegal immigration – much in the news these days. I found six of the top countries from which refugees attempting to cross the channel originally came; then found the names, details and photographs of someone from each country who had died in their attempt. I created their passports, soaked them in saline, and then encased them in a box which features thin black plastic, representing the flimsy boats in which these people risk their lives.
Tamsin
I have always been intrigued by gates, archways and alleys which are slightly obscured, always hopeful that they lead somewhere exciting or magical. That was the starting point for this book, and each of the gates or doorways is based on a one I know from real life. But, as the theme is forbidden, they all lead to a locked door or closed off entry. We never get to know where they go.
Tony
Working to the prompt Forbidden I used a ‘fortune teller’ structure, based on images created by ‘Tom of Finland’ The structure was the perfect way to reference the random, frenetic, cruising shown in the Tom of Finland drawings. I was reflecting on the time when homosexuality was illegal and gay pornographic was forbidden. A trip to the continent gave access to interesting bookshops the type of which Stoke-on-Trent or even Bristol didn’t seem to have. Smuggling an illicit paperback back home was a slightly scary thrill. I put the bookwork into an envelope because I wanted to showcase the postage stamps Finland issued to honour its famous talented son. All images are by Tom of Finland.
Gill
For the theme of Forbidden I chose to make a tetra-flexagon. The book consists of images of things that are forbidden to me as a diabetic; my favourite foods. In the centre is a small book containing alternative words for forbidden, the outside of the book is covered in numbers which are a selection of my blood sugar readings over the last couple of years .
Isi
I interpreted Forbidden as a language and the discourse today where some concepts and words are not acceptable at this time. The untold stories.
I made a ceramic to create” a mouth, an orifice” some container that can send words out. Words of cohesion, division, hate, love, acceptance and transcendence whatever we think we are saying.
The words printed are part of the recurrent discourse on social media.
Joan
I made a box, covered in Chinese paper and lined with red silk, about the Forbidden City in Beijing.
It houses my late father-in-law’s annotated copy of Chairman Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’
Alison
I chose an abstract approach to this theme. A box suggesting a present but labels ‘forbidden’ under the velvet ribbon. Inside a tunnel literally bouncing our and inviting the viewer to probe further. What the viewer expects to find might be exactly what is forbidden.
