Ed Ruscha Response
My response to the photobooks of Ed Ruscha is the Some Cork Virgins. Having been aware of and inspired to make work by Ruscha’s typologies in the past I decided to try out a different approach, referencing his less known titles such as Colored People (1972) and A Few Palm Trees (1971). It these titles Ruscha subverts his standard documentary approach, isolating details and using colour.
Finnegan. 2022. Some Cork Virgins (detail)
The subject of this book are the many Marian statues which are abundant in my new home city of Cork. I have spotted these in various locations and was struck by how ubiquitous they are. Most are not located at religious sites, but rather in municipal areas such as traffic rotaries and housing estate greens. Having grown up in a Catholic town on the other end of the country I was surprised how much more devout Cork appears. The remind me of roadside Shinto shrines I have seen in Japanese animation (Miyazaki, 1988). My decision to photograph these religious sculptures was an attempt to understand them better.
Finnegan. 2022. Some Cork Virgins (detail)
The form of the book is dictated by my desire to try using a 16 page imposition to make a booklet. Due to this layout I knew I didn’t need to photograph all the Marys in Cork but over the course of a few days I had enough to fulfil my brief. I decided that 8 photographs was enough to allow for a good flow when viewing. I have also been interested in using Riso photocopying and thought that this would be a good opportunity to design for this process and print a small run of these booklets for dissemination. Unfortunately the cost of printing just 20 of these in two colours was prohibitive and I was forced to print them locally using a standard colour printer. I intend to return to this project at a later date and I might be able to use this version as a dummy to secure funding to assist with printing costs.
Finnegan. 2022. Some Cork Virgins (detail)
As the title suggests there are more Marys out perhaps there’s scope here to do a series of small publications - e.g More Cork Virgins and Some More Cork Virgins
Finnegan. 2022. Some Cork Virgins (detail)
Overall I’m happy with this outcome. I don’t see it as a homage to Ruscha, more of an offshoot. I feel the layout works well and having used the imposition method I will be able to try this out with any future publications or dummy books. I’m disappointed that Riso printing didn’t work out but having got a few quotes I now realise just how expensive printing double sided A3 can be and have a more realistic perspective on print costs. I would still like to try a two colour separation print using a standard photocopier as I’m interested to see how printing one on top of the other looks. Even though I jogged the blue layer a little to give the off-register effect I’m sure this will look even better when completely left to chance. I have also hand-stitched the binding. This was a skill I learnt a few years ago but forgot as I haven’t used it. I would have loved to use blue or gold waxed thread but I waxed some white darning thread instead. It does the job!
References:
MIYAZAKI, Hayao. 1988. My Neighbor Totoro [Film].
RUSCHA, Ed. 1971. A Few Palm Trees. Hollywood, California: Heavy Industry Publications.
RUSCHA, Ed. 1972. Colored People. California: Self-published.
