Books are something special for me. I love them, I need them, I hoard them. I get nervous when I know there are only about 5 books left I haven't yet read. Seems I am addicted.
Now this book is something very special. German readers will surely know it. It is called "Die Häschenschule" which means school for rabbits or rather hares. As a child this was one of my favorite picture books.
That is the reason why my mother gave it to me when I was expecting my first daughter. She had been diagnosed with cancer even before my marriage. It was three years later when I was pregnant. I suppose she somehow knew that she would not last long enough. In fact she died about four weeks before my eldest was born.
And now, I dismantled this book!
I took out all of the pages, I cut them to size, I did a color wash on the inside of the covers....
I am stamping onto the pages, gluing things in, writing with gel pens. I gave mother hare some glasses and imported the rabbit herald from "Alice in Wonderland".
In fact, I am altering this book. I will include some extra pages with photos from my mother, myself and my eldest daughter, thus showing the way from mother to daughter to mother. I always wanted to make a piece of art in remembrance of my mother without being too sad, too kitschy, too reverently... This might be it.
