Go Your Own Way

In order to catch up with the Documented Life Project challenges, I decided to combine two together.  The challenges involved using a hand carved stamp and using masks.  I used the gelli plate to construct a background in my journal page.  I cut some chunky, wiggly lines from cardboard and used those as masks on the gelli plate to print on to a page collaged with text pages.  By moving them around on the gelli plate with each change of colour, I achieved some nice layering.  That gave me some water.  Next I needed the fish.  I had some scraps of lino so I used those to carve two fish stamps.  Using block printing ink and a baren, I printed one fish – different from the rest – swimming in a different direction from the rest of the shoal.  I was thinking about the need for each person to find their own way in life, the importance of not just following the herd (or shoal) but making informed and active decisions instead, of celebrating non-conformity, of how life is richer because of diversity and difference.  Maybe I should have added a quotation to make the message explicit but I like to think the image, for all its simplicity, conveys the ideas well enough.