Making boredom more enjoyable. With drawings.
"Africa – Darkly Alluring World" is the German title of Tania Blixen's book, which likely became world-famous after the tear-jerking film adaptation "Out of Africa." I held in my hands a 1986 edition, published by the Swiss Manesse Verlag: linen binding, ribbon bookmark, approximately 9 x 15 cm, just under 480 pages – and utterly boring. Of course, I couldn't have known that when I spotted it for a euro at the secondhand bookstore. Curious, I spent the euro, and after just a few pages, I was struck by the strange mix of sentimentalized nature descriptions and the naively arrogant racism with which the author described the decline of her plantation. What was I supposed to do with this book? You don't just throw away world literature, after all. So, should I force myself to finish it?
But yes: for the past few months, I've been using my train journeys to and from work to read "Out of Africa" page by page and illustrate it – also page by page. And since the text itself isn't worth the effort, I draw directly into the book.
I used Neuland markers, by the way: mainly SketchOne, No.One®, fineOne, and ArtMarker, mostly in black and gray, occasionally in color. Oh yes, and whenever it suited me, I'd tear out a page or color it black and then pierce it with a needle – that makes the most beautiful starry sky over Africa.
I regularly photograph the progress.
And I regularly wonder what the point of this artwork is. It doesn't make much of an impression in art exhibitions: the format is too small, cutting it up would destroy it, so you'd need a machine to turn the pages regularly. How about a film adaptation? Apparently, they're very successful.
So I've now filmed the current state of the work, using the QUIK app for iOS and Android, which also conveniently provided the music. The result, freely adapted from Janosch: Oh, how beautiful Out of Africa is!
Thank you, QUIK. And thank you to Neuland for the markers and the opportunity to recommend a different way of handling books.
Okay. I still have about 130 pages to go. I have to get back to work.