This accordion book was made on the theme of “art supplies” for the areyoubookenough challenge on Instagram in March of 2023. The two hardcovers are covered in magazine photos, and the accordion itself has illustrations of my bookbinding tools on one side, and a quote by Alexander Berkman on the other.
I’ve been amazed as I learn more about binding books how important the tools can be. Even simple tools have been carefully designed and crafted; even inexpensive tools are often the work of many others.
The reverse is a quote from Alexander Berkman, who I was reading at the time. He emphasizes how the work, survival, and life of people are interconnected, which seems to me both beautiful and challenging.
“But no one person has made or can make anything all by himself. It takes many men, of different trades and professions, to create something. The carpenter, for instance, cannot make a simple chair or bench all by himself; not even if he should cut down a tree and prepare the lumber himself. He needs a saw and hammer, nails and tools, which he cannot make himself. And even if he should make these himself, he would first have to have the raw materials — steel and iron — which other men would have to supply. … All labor and the products of labor are social, made by society as a whole.”
Alexander Berkman, What is Anarchism?
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