charlotte hills
Brief: Redesign a book that has been banned from the public. The new design should represent why the book was banned. Print, sew and bind the book by hand.
Concept: I chose “The Story of Little Black Sambo” by Helen Bannerman. My mother read this story to me as a child, so I already held a connection to it. As I researched why the book was banned, I discovered that the "racist" illustrations and vocabulary were the main causes. The illustrations were said to be too similar to “blackface” images which once portrayed a negative stereotype of African Americans. I exaagerated these illustrations even further in my version by only using black, white, and red. In edition I picked out words which were, and still are considered racist, and gave their definitions. As I child I never made the racist connection between the drawings or vocabulary, so I wanted to make it as obvious as possible in my version. This recreation exaggerates the negative aspects and gives historical context, explaining why the book was taken off the shelves.
Deliverables: Book printed jacket.