The Sketchbooks of My Life

Throughout her journey, the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos jotted down her ideas and sketches through texts, drawings and collages in many sketchbooks that drive her creative work until nowadays. There are the early drawings of her organic shapes that made her so well-known and notes from art and jewelry classes, her early sculptures, performances, and her first installation, Flores do Meu Desejo [Flowers of My Desire], from 1996. ​ To celebrate the artist’s 50th anniversary these personal recordings were shared while creating a unique project: a rigorously handmade deluxe book edition. Each sketchbook was remade into a large-sized artist's book, accompanied by an original artwork: a one-of-a-kind tile panel for each copy. The first ten books, from 1989 to 1996 were published. The print run comprises only nine copies per artist book, all printed in Fine Art on Hahnemühle paper made of a bamboo fiber that replicates all nuanced color hues and the collages matching the original and presented in an upholstered case box. Each artist's book displays unique upholstering materials: mirror, fabric, paper, etc. Lastly, each edition holds a letter from writer Valter Hugo Mãe to Joana Vasconcelos, as a reply to a drawing previously sent by her to the writer. This project’s copyrights are all reverted to Fundação Joana Vasconcelos, in favour of solidarity causes they support.