4 views of Traces d’enfance

4 views of Traces d’enfance

2 views of Traces d’enfance

 
Lene Bennike (Copenhagen, Denmark)
lenebennike.com

Traces d’enfance
2015
photogravure, chine collé
Unique work
19 pages, inclusive of colophon
Open: 10.5 x 19 x 1 cm (fully opened 206 cm)
Closed: 9 x 10.5 cm

When experimenting with old photographs and polymer plates I had to reject the first plate. During a break I had closer look at this plate and began to cut it into smaller random pieces. When printing these tiny plates the children appeared with a strong visual impact on the thick creamy paper and I knew these portraits had to be turned into a book. A book focusing on childhood and school life by adding handwritten testimonies from old French school books from the same period. And a book with an overall focus on recycling.

The cover is an rather worn leather bound book from 1826 in red and brownish colors. For the inside of the cover I used a found piece of brown Canson paper part of which has also been used to glue the prints together thus forming a leporello with images on both sides.

The book is printed and bound in Copenhagen 2015. Printed on Zerkall Wove paper 340 grams, leporello format, book size 9 x 10.5 cm, paper size 7.5 x 9.5 cm, total length when lying flat: 206 cm. 18 photogravure prints in black and white using Gutenberg and Charbonell ink, some of the photogravures have chine collé from old school books written in sepia or blue ink even some with the teachers annotations in red + colophon.