Ipswich artist Bec Lewis spends her days surrounded by stories.
The Ipswich Libraries public program delivery officer works in a room with wall to wall books, but by night she likes to create her own adventures.
Interestingly, she is most inspired by taking out her scissors and cutting them up.
She calls it ‘locative collage’ which is a process whereby Ms Lewis cuts illustrations out of books or comics. She attaches them to cardboard and then creates scenes along with her lino prints of Ipswich houses.
Ms Lewis does this usually in an outdoor location which helps to give them a new story.
“I have been doing lino prints of Ipswich houses for years and I have also been doing collage for a really long time, so I like the idea of combining these two loves,” she said.
“It creates a whole story around the image, by giving the houses and people context.
“Things are given provenance by where you find them. This is how you pull history out of things. So if they are moved they lose their connection. I feel like I’m giving a story back to them by taking them and creating a story for them.”
“These books are very old and brittle and the information is really outdated and often sexist. By repurposing them, I can give them a better story. The girl gets to be a hero and doesn’t have to rely on being rescued by a man,” she said.
“I love putting them with Ipswich houses as I grew up here and I have always been fascinated by the building style.
“There is something really nice about those buildings and their peeling paint, or watching that journey of seeing a place being fixed over time. It’s really exciting to see them being loved again.”
Ms Lewis is currently undertaking a #100daychallenge on Instagram using locative collage. Her house is always filled with music with a record player in every room.
“Music has always triggered ideas for me. So I listen to something and it triggers an idea or reaction that becomes the story,” she said.
You can create your own paper scene at the Ipswich Central Library as Little Brown Dog Workshop’s
Bec Lewis is running a workshop.
Makerspace: Tiny World Photography is a free event on Tuesday 24 July from 10am – 11.30am
and you can register here.
All you need to bring along is your smartphone and imagination.
