Christine McCauley, “Nagaland borders boundaries belonging”

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Book cover. Foil blocked book cloth. Motif taken from a Naga carving.

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Introductory spread. Type set in 14pt gill italic. Motif taken from a Naga carving, polymer plate.

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Signpost to Kohima & Imphal: the defining battles of the WW2 Burma Campaign. Writing on a wall in Kigwema. Six-colour reduction linocut developed from drawings made on location.

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Meeting place Khonoma, The entrance gate to the ‘village’.
Three-color reduction linocuts developed from location drawings.

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A Naga prophecy, type set in Gill. Memorial stones to the fallen in Khonoma. Gothic type set over 3-colour reduction linocut.

 


 
Christine McCauley (London, U.K.)
christinelmccauley.co.uk

Nagaland borders boundaries belonging
2014
Spreads: Letterpress onto Zerkol paper. Gill type. Linocut, polymer, magnesium & flexible plate, mounted type high. Drum leaf binding. Cover: foil blocked book cloth.
Edition of 20
32 pages including endpapers & cover
7.5 x 15” open
7.5 x 7.5” closed

I work as an artist/educator using a wide range of media: painting, drawing, printmaking, bookbinding, carving, casting & gilding. I have worked across disciplines including fine art, illustration & design.

On-going themes in my personal practice are the impact the past has on the present, the relationship of time and place, memory and identity and my fascination with the trans-cultural connections and collisions caused by war, migration and colonisation. When making my finished work the material quality of the object and the processes by which it is made become very important, including the embedding of form and idea and the evocative and historical resonance of the medium. I research extensively on location, in museums and in archives drawing, collecting objects, taking photographs and making notes. I travel widely to various locations in order to fully engage with my subject-matter.

My most recent work includes NAGALAND borders boundaries belonging. This work is based on my journey to the Angami area of Nagaland: Kohima, Kigwema and Khonoma in 2011. The journey was prompted by my father’s experiences during WW2 in the 14th, Forgotten Army during the Burma Campaign and my personal quest for understanding. The old Assam of the 1940s is now subdivided into the ‘Seven Sister’ states as a result of different tribal groups pushing for autonomy and is a politically sensitive region of disputed frontiers and borders, incursions and crossings. In 2011 a number of states that had been subject to Protected, Restricted Area status opened up to lone travellers enabling me to journey to this remote and diverse region of Asia. NAGALAND borders boundaries belonging explores time and the connection between the British and the Naga through the material exploration of letterpress printing. The historical resonance of the medium and the time consuming nature of the process reflect the embedding of form and idea, and pay homage to the material Culture of the Naga hill tribes.