Michal Fuchs, “Tsu shlofn in eybiker ru”


Book cover with book inside


Mirrored text and one of the collages


The same collage seen from the other side


Collage in multiple layers


Text printed on both sides of the page

 

Michal Fuchs
Halle (Saale), Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
cargocollective.com/michalfuchs-illustration

Tsu shlofn in eybiker ru
2016
Book, handmade paper, collages, hot stamping, digital print
3 uniques
21 pages
24.5 x 37cm open
24.5 x 18.5 x 0.7cm closed

Tsu shlofn in eybiker ru

Many of the Yiddish folk lullabies symbolize, directly or indirectly, the spiritual-cultural world of the diaspora jew. The eternal dreamer, with no roots, that is always looking for his place in the world. Some of them have been written by zionists who lived in Europe or Russia with constant longing to the holy land, or by jewish who emigrated from eastern Europe to America.

Almost all these lullabies are a monologue of a mother talking to her child. While their monotone melody is very relaxing and quiet, trying to put the child into a deep sleep, the texts have, next to their calm and fantastic feeling also something very dark and melancholic, a bit sad, maybe not designated as children songs anymore, but as an expression of the mothers distress. This tension is what I am trying to express in the book and it’s collages.

The book Tsu shlofn in eybiker ru (To sleep in eternal repose), contains five of these original old yiddish lullabies, translated also to Hebrew and German. Each lullaby is accompanied by one original and unique collage, responding to the lullaby’s dreamy, melancholic and dark content. The book pages are handmade paper, each made out of five very thin layers, containg Abacá fibers. The collages are made in a special technique: the elements of the collage are embedded within four different levels between the five transparent layers, creating a unique depth.

The elements which appear nearer from one side of the paper, are seen further away from the other side – what creates eventually two different pictures, each from a different side.

The text is printed on both sides of the transparent paper. The translated text, printed mirrored on the back, appears weaker then the original yiddish text printed on the front, creating a typography that matches the technique of the collages.

Song list

1. OYFN VEG SHTEYT A BOYM / Yitzik Manger
2. AMOL IZ GEVEN A MAYSE / Traditional
3. SHLOF MAYN KIND / Scholem Alejchem
4. OYFN BOYDEM SHLOF DER DAKH / Berl Shafir
5. DI ZUN VET ARUNTERGEYN / Moyshe-Leyb Halpern