Su Blackwell

Once Upon a a Time

 
 
A photograph of a sculpture made out of a book. The sculpture looks like a girl sweeping leaves in a forest.

The girl in the Wood

 
 
A photo of a sculpture made out of a book. It looks like a little house under a bunch of trees.

The Woodcutter’s Hut

 
Sculpture made out of a book. It looks like a forest with a house or cabin.

The Elfin Grove

As a provider of material on the one hand, and a bearer of content on the other, the book is the germ cell of Blackwell's work. 

Su Blackwell’s transformation to the medium of sculpture happened while studying textiles at the RCA in London in 2003. She continued her experimentation with paper, hanging works in forests and burying paper in the earth, testing its enduring nature.

Su says of her work, "I often work within the realm of fairy-tales. I began making a series of book-sculpture, cutting-out images from old books to create three-dimensional dioramas’

"For the cut-out illustrations, I tend to lean towards young-girl characters, placing them in haunting, fragile settings”.

Headshot of author.