Child of Fear - Art Daily Cafe

”Censorship is the child of fear. Father of ignorance. And the desperate weapon of fascists everywhere.” – Laurie Halse Anderson

Hello. Today I'm sharing my take on the Art Daily Cafe's this month’s theme. You can see the theme post here (link) and my original blog post here (link). 

Somehow the “Read between the lines” made me think of black lines of censorship. Instead of adjusting back to the true meaning, I decided to go with my initial idea as it sparked a strong mental image initially. So, I started this page by using a black marker to “censor” words from an old book page.

I remember seeing censored newspapers from the 1900s, before Finnish independence, in a museum in my childhood. They were horrid and captivating at the same time. The pure visual part of them was quite intriguing, smaller and bigger black strikes on the pages covering parts of the text so it became kind of a puzzle. I remember thinking how much time it took to add the marks to all papers in an edition, would the news be outdated by the time the issues were released.

I used that mental image of black out words to make my background. Although, I must say that my version wouldn’t be approved as the words still shine through the permanent marker ink. To echo the censorship, I also added a cross on top of the mouth of the gentleman.

Using this month’s color palette didn’t cause any trouble – kraft and tea tones are dear to me. I also try to add something black and something white to most of my projects as they bring contrast and light to the piece. Here I used black Impasto paint with a stencil to make a dimensional pattern. I also added some splashes in black as well as a sticker with a black frame. There’s also black patterned washi tape and black snap fasteners in the page.

Lastly, I added the title to the page. I used a snippet out of a quote by Laurie Halse Anderson. It felt suitable to the page inspired by censored newspapers.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Materials: Prima Marketing, Tim Holtz, Tape Garden, Apteekkimuseo, Craft O'Clock