Spotlight On: Artists' books and zines with Gracia and Louise

Join Melbourne-based collaborating artists Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison for a talk and zine-making workshop exploring their love of artists’ books and their artistic practice, deeply embedded in the natural world. Learn how Gracia and Louise’s work fits within the lineage of artists’ books held in the Rare Books Collection and the ways in which they centre ecology within their work as artists and wildlife carers. Drawing inspiration from the artists books on display, you’ll create a unique ecosystem zine, featuring your own drawn and collaged elements within a template especially designed for the session.

Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison have been collaborating since 1999, making artists’ books, zines, collages, stories, prints, and drawings. Besotted still, it appears, with paper for its adaptable, foldable, cut-able, concealable, revealing nature, using an armoury of play, the poetic and familiar too, with the intention of luring you into their A(rtists’ books) to Z(ines). As artists and wildlife carers, their practice frequently concerns the natural world, addressing themes of conservation and biodiversity.

Presented in partnership with the PGAV’s Analog Art program, Archives and Special Collections’ Spotlight Series features archivists, librarians, curators, researchers, academics and artists. Each session spotlights the wonders our collections hold and creates an informal space for engaging in critical conversations, reflective discussions, slow looking, creative workshops, talks and much more.